Trending Science: Major UN report sounds the alarm about global warming

On 8 August, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented a report that underscores the vicious cycle of climate change and land degradation. Humans have damaged about a quarter of Earth’s ice-free land. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is vital if global warming is to remain well below 2 °C, if not 1.5 °C.

The IPCC assesses the status of scientific knowledge associated with climate change, its impacts, possible future risks and potential response options. The report involves 107 experts from 52 countries. It was developed by three working groups, in cooperation with the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

There’s hope: manage land better for people and climate

To stop the climate crisis, we must act now to change the way we manage land and produce food and to eat less meat. Several members of the international group of scientists weigh in in an IPCC press release published alongside the report.

“Land plays an important role in the climate system,” said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III. “Agriculture, forestry and other types of land use account for 23% of human greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time natural land processes absorb carbon dioxide equivalent to almost a third of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry.”

“Land already in use could feed the world in a changing climate and provide biomass for renewable energy, but early, far-reaching action across several areas is required,” noted IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair Hans-Otto Pörtner.

Land becomes less productive when degraded, limiting what can be grown and decreasing the soil’s ability to absorb carbon. “The choices we make about sustainable land management can help reduce and in some cases reverse these adverse impacts,” explained Kiyoto Tanabe, Co-Chair of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

“Food security will be increasingly affected by future climate change through yield declines – especially in the tropics – increased prices, reduced nutrient quality, and supply chain disruptions,” added IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Priyadarshi Shukla.

“Some dietary choices require more land and water, and cause more emissions of heat-trapping gases than others,” stated Debra Roberts, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II. “Balanced diets featuring plant-based foods, such as coarse grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and animal-sourced food produced sustainably in low greenhouse gas emission systems, present major opportunities for adaptation to and limiting climate change.”

“Policies that support sustainable land management, ensure the supply of food for vulnerable populations, and keep carbon in the ground while reducing greenhouse gas emissions are important,” acknowledged Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Co-Chair Eduardo Calvo.

“We are using technologies and good practices, but they do need to be scaled up and used in other suitable places that they are not being used in now,” disclosed Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I. “There is real potential here through more sustainable land use, reducing over-consumption and waste of food, eliminating the clearing and burning of forests, preventing over-harvesting of fuelwood, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, thus helping to address land related climate change issues.”

The report isn’t all doom and gloom. People everywhere have a major opportunity to reverse the damage by planting trees on farmland, better managing soil and reducing food waste. These effective solutions can increase land productivity and cut emissions.