Our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss
A new Chatham House report highlights that the global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss.
Biodiversity loss will continue to accelerate, unless we change the way we produce food. Further destruction of ecosystems and habitats will threaten our ability to sustain human populations.
The new report calls for an urgent reform of food systems, suggesting three interdependent actions: changing global dietary patterns, protecting and setting aside land for nature, and farming in a more nature-friendly and biodiversity-supporting way.
Policy makers are urged to take a system-wide approach to account for the impacts of food systems, develop global guidance for change, and translate this to national targets.
At the recent One Planet Summit for Biodiversity the Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative (GGW) received $14 billion in additional funding pledges for the next ten years. This financial support will scale up efforts to restore degraded land, create green jobs, strengthen resilience and protect biodiversity. Among the financiers are the Government of France, who committed $14 billion; the African Development Bank ($6.5 billion) and the World Bank ($5 billion).
Responsibilities
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action.
UNEP’s Ecosystems Division works with international and national partners, providing technical assistance and advisory services for the implementation of environmental policy, and strengthening the environmental management capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition.
An enormous iceberg is heading towards South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic, where scientists say a collision could devastate wildlife by threatening the food chain. Scientists have long been watching this climate-related event unfold, as the iceberg - the size and shape of Jamaica – has meandered and advanced over two years since breaking off from the Antarctic peninsula in July 2017.
BRITISH ROYAL AIR FORCE
Iceberg A68a is 4,200 sq km in size and is about the same shape and size as Jamaica. The peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth, registering a record high temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius on February 9. The warming has scientists concerned about ice melt and collapse leading to higher sea levels worldwide.