Biodiversity loss is driven by an unsustainable food system. How we farm food, how we treat forests, grasslands & wildlife, will determine whether we mitigate the crisis. Here’s why it matters

New report from ⁦ @CH_Environment⁩ ⁦ @ChathamHouse⁩ https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/02/food-system-impacts-biodiversity-loss

Half our planet’s natural ecosystems have been lost. Since 1970, 70% of wild animals have gone extinct. On the other hand, livestock now makeup the majority of mammals on the planet. Wildlife are just 4%. That’s what we’ve left for our kids.

Yet even other environmentalists joke about overconsumption of cheese. As mega dairies grow beyond what our economies, our environment, our health, small farmers, can survive, and contribute mega methane, mega pollution and mega extinction... it’s important we take it seriously

How we grow food is the main threat to 86% of 28k species at risk of extinction, noted the new report by Chatham House. This path is accelerating the loss of biodiversity.

Without biodiversity, we can’t grow food. Ecosystems collapse. Our survival depends on other creatures.

Cheap food -subsidies- causes a lethal cycle. We have to challenge how we think about food, poverty, health, and economy. Low costs drive demand and waste, with competition driving costs even lower - through deforestation, polluting fertilisers and pesticides. Stick with me here.

We know that if food was priced based on its environmental impact, meat and dairy - leading in greenhouse gases, land use, pollution, and water waste - would be expensive. Instead it’s cheap, subsidized. But does that really address poverty or just prop up a broken system?

Instead of subsidizing environmentally toxic food, we should address the roots and injustices of poverty. We should bring people out of poverty, not maintain the system that keeps them in it. Those same people are most impacted by the environmental harms of producing cheap food.

First solution requires change. But it’s powerful. According to the Chatham House report food systems should shift towards more plant-based diets. We already know 80% of global farmland is used for livestock which provide only 18% of calories eaten.

Second solution: rewilding. By reducing meat consumption we can save enormous amounts of land and stop clearing land and further damaging wildlife as our population grows. This also allows existing land to rewild, restoring native ecosystems to increase biodiversity.

The report argues the third solution is farming less intensively w/ lower yields. While some say we need to intensify ag on less land, this report suggests while organic yields are 75% of conventional intensive farming, plants for humans will yield more than plants to grow meat.

Changing the global food system means “the convergence of global food consumption around predominantly plant-based diets is the most crucial element.” A switch from beef to beans in the US would free 42% of cropland for rewilding or more wildlife friendly farming.

Rewilding biodiversity around the world, returning wild lands to native states, can store 72bn tonnes of carbon – equivalent to 7 years of emissions from fossil fuels. We don’t all have to go vegan but shifting towards more plants in our diets and less meat is a game changer.

The impact of the food system on climate is widely accepted but biodiversity is misunderstood, poorly defined and downplayed - as if it’s a niche area only nerdy environmentalists care about. Well this nerdy environmentalist is telling you we can’t grow food without butterflies.

Many studies show the impact of livestock on soil, water, climate, forests, wildlife, more than the planet can sustain. And proposed solutions, capturing carbon, biogas, etc simply can’t be done at scale. When honest, proponents admit it won’t work without meat/dairy reduction

People are too often separated from how and where food was produced or it’s impacts on marginalized communities and environment. Through false solutions, they are led to believe eating local, organic etc. is key: it’s a drop in the bucket compared to eating less meat & dairy.