Greens/EFA call for new proposal for Common European Agricultural Policy
IPCC report on climate change and land
Today, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a damming report on climate change and the devastating effects of desertification, land degradation, land management its consequences for people, animals, the environment and climate.
The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament call on the European Commission to present a new proposal for the reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy to protect soil, environment and climate and halt biodiversity loss.
Bas Eickhout, climate spokesperson for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, calls for sustainable protection of forests and land:
"This new report shows us once again that there is absolutely no time to waste for climate action. The loss of forests and land poses a dramatic threat to people, animals, the environment and the climate. We need an urgent freeze on illegal logging and clear rules for the protection of forests and land to guarantee food security, tackle the climate crisis and meet the Paris climate targets. Forest and land protection is climate protection".
Molly Scott Cato, agriculture spokesperson for the Greens/EFA Group, calls on the European Commission to present a new proposal for the reform of the European Agricultural Policy:
"We are still living with an agriculture policy from the 1950s. Today, Europe’s most serious crises are climate change and loss of life in the countryside. We need an agriculture policy that stops creating these problems and becomes part of a sustainable future. Eliminating food waste and using farming practices that work with land rather than forcing production with fertiliser or killing the soil with pesticides is the right way to tackle the climate crisis.
"The IPCC makes clear that the opportunities to use our land as a carbon sink is a necessary party of staying with the 1.5-degree warming limit. The European Commission must present a new proposal for the reform of the Common European Agricultural Policy in order to halt the extinction of species and make agriculture a European climate protector."
