The Global Effect of Food Systems

A
ADid you know that what's on your plate plays a larger role in contributing to climate change than the car you drive? Many people, especially in wealthier countries, are becoming worried about how much their individual carbon footprint is contributing to climate change. However, when they consider these issues, they'll usually think about what vehicle they drive and how much electricity they use in their home, but not so much about farming machinery, processed meals or food waste. Few consider the impacts of the food they eat, despite the fact that worldwide food systems account for roughly one quarter of all manmade emission of greenhouse gases. That's more than the entire global transportation sector.
B
BThe most immediate threat from climate change for most of the global population will be at the dinner table, as our ability to grow critical staple crops is being affected by the global warming we've already experienced. Between 1980 and 2008, for instance, wheat yields fell by 5.5% and maize yields by 3.8% due to rising temperatures. Climate change threatens the food security of millions of poor people around the world. And yet what we see is that while food and agriculture are massively impacted by climate change, they are also, simultaneously, major contributors to it. What all of this tells us is that our food systems, as currently structured, are facing major challenges.
C
CSo what are food systems? Everything from seed and soil, to the supermarket to the plate to the landfill site. Food systems include the growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption and disposal of food and food-related items. While farming alone accounts for 10-12% of global greenhouse gas emissions, when we look at entire food systems the contributions to climate change more than double. A recent report published by the not-for-profit organisation Meridian Institute lays out the many factors throughout food systems that spell trouble for the climate, and also explains why a broad systems-wide perspective is necessary for implementing effective changes.
D
DConsider the impact of deforestation as forests are cleared for the purpose of making land available for other uses. Worldwide, 80% of deforestation is carried out to create farmland, with potentially serious consequences for climate change. The world's forests are massive carbon sinks, vital natural 'reservoirs' which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it. So is soil, which locks away - or 'sequesters' - two to three times as much carbon as there is present in the atmosphere. However, there are ways to produce food without adding to climate change. Environmentally responsible farming can help restore ecosystem functions by producing crops and livestock in productive ways that sequester carbon and preserve forests.
E
EOr consider food waste. Not just the scraps that we throw away, but throughout the entire food system. Every year, a staggering 30-40% of the food produced in the world is never eaten. Some never gets harvested, some spoils before it reaches consumers, and a lot is tossed away by supermarkets, restaurants and at home. For the sake of comparing emissions, if food waste were a country in its own right, it would be the world's third largest contributor to global warming, after only China and the United States. This says nothing of the gross injustice of wasting so much food while so many in the world go hungry. In the developing world, improving infrastructure along the food chain - including cold storage - would prevent much good food being lost. In the developed world, retailers can prevent large amounts of waste by finding outlets for slightly flawed or blemished goods, and consumers can limit waste by buying food in amounts they actually want and need.
F
FThe complex, dynamic and widely diverse forms of the world's many food systems yield some wildly divergent outcomes in terms of nutrition, health, and environmental and climate impacts. Just as there's no universal crop that grows everywhere, there's no 'one size fits all' model food system to implement across the world. It is critical that we start to better examine what works in some systems and what must be improved in others, in order to produce more just and sustainable outcomes around the world. It's time to look beyond farming and agriculture and to see the whole picture, to create systems that cause less harm to the climate and are more resilient to the impacts we're already suffering from global warming. Food is a fundamental human need and to eat is a basic human right. Our food systems must deliver that need, without worsening the impacts of climate change.

Question 1 - 6

Which paragraph contains the following information?

A figure indicating the environmental impact of agricultural practices

An outline of two basic aims which food systems need to achieve

An illustration of a drop in the amount of basic foodstuffs being produced

A mention of a lack of public awareness of how food systems affect climate change

A mention of the two-way relationship between farming and climate change

A reference to how food systems need to vary according to region

A figure indicating the environmental impact of agricultural practices

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