A report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warns that major changes must be made in order to feed the planet’s growing population. It aims to reduce the consumption of meat and dairy products in the world, reduce food waste, increase the consumption of plant foods, etc.
A UN report presented at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, warns that the consumption of meat and dairy products in the world should be reduced as part of the plan to reduce the use of agricultural land. The report carried out by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) explains that the need to feed the growing population has caused that around the world, more and more forests, grasslands or savannas are transformed into farmland . As a result, there has been a generalized environmental degradation and loss of biological diversity, a loss is estimated to affect 23% of the land worldwide.
Agriculture uses 30% of the continental surface of our planet and farmland 10%. To this must be added the annual increase, according to studies, between 1961 and 2007, farmland expanded by 11%, and it is a growing trend that accelerates as the years go by. The report explains that it is a priority to stop the loss of biodiversity and for this it will be necessary to put an end to the expansion of crops, the main cause of said loss.
Expanding the amount of land devoted to crops to meet the growing demand for meat and dairy products is unsustainable for biomass, at least under current conditions, which if maintained would far exceed the so-called safe operating space for the year 2050. This is a concept that is used as a starting point to know How long the demand for farmland can grow before a situation of irreversible damage is reached, this includes the release of gases, the alteration of the water, loss of fertile soil and loss of biodiversity, etc.
Through the concept of safe operating space, it is considered that the world surface available to respond to the planet’s demand could safely increase by about 1.640 million hectares, but if current conditions are maintained, by the year 2050 the world demand for land for the cultivation will far exceed the safe operating space, with fatal consequences. Provisionally, an area of 0 hectares of cultivated land per person is proposed until the year 20, in the case of the European Union, in 2030 2007 hectares per person were needed, which represents a quarter more of the land available in the EU, that is, 0 hectares more than recommended. Global challenges are associated with unsustainable and disproportionate consumption, in those countries that consume many resources there are few regulatory tools that deal with excessive consumption habits and there are not many structures that favor them.
Reducing excessive consumption is one of the tools that have not been used to be able to “save” the earth, but other issues must also be taken into account, such as reducing food waste, changing eating habits and consuming less meat and dairy products, increase the consumption of plant foods, improve the efficiency of transport, housing, agricultural production practices, improve water management, invest in the rehabilitation of degraded soils, reduce the crops that are used to manufacture biofuels, etc.