Reducing carbon emissions from only cars, factories and power plants would not suffice to find a solution to fight the climate crisis, claimed scientists according to a report published by The Guardian.

Scientists have claimed that unless there is also a transformation in the way the world produces food and manages land, it would not be possible to keep global temperatures at safe levels, claimed the report in the newspaper which was based on a leaked draft of a report on climate change and land use that is currently being discussed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Geneva.

According to the report, human activities like feeding, clothing and supporting the world’s growing population makes use of and exploits about 72 per cent of the ice-free surface of Earth. On the other hand, almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions is produced by activities like agriculture, forestry and other land use.

Cattle and rice fields also account for half of all of amount of one of the most potent greenhouse gases – methane, the report says.

In addition, about half of all emissions of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, come from cattle and rice fields. Also, significant levels of carbon emissions are caused by deforestation and the removal of peat lands. Constant soil erosion and reduction in the amounts of organic material in the ground has resulted because of the impact of intensive agriculture – a human activity that has helped to support the growing population of the world that was about 1.9 billion a century ago to 7.7 billion currently.

The report further states that these problems are set to get worse in the future. “Climate change exacerbates land degradation through increases in rainfall intensity, flooding, drought frequency and severity, heat stress, wind, sea-level rise and wave action,” the report states.

This report assumes importance because of the series of severe meteorological events that have taken place recently which include the near record lows for July in the Arctic sea-ice coverage, severe hit waves hitting Europe last month and the average global temperature for July being 1.2C above pre-industrial levels for the month.

There would be higher chances of climatic destabilization if the temperature rises greater than 1.5C while chances of such events become even more likely due to rises of higher than 2C, according to the warnings of IPCC, which makes the figures mentioned above very alarming.

“We are now getting very close to some dangerous tipping points in the behaviour of the climate – but as this latest leaked report of the IPCC’s work reveals, it is going to be very difficult to achieve the cuts we need to make to prevent that happening,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

The report suggested that a big change in how land is used is important. It suggested inclusion of policies aimed to create “improved access to markets, empowering women farmers, expanding access to agricultural services and strengthening land tenure security.”,

“Early warning systems for weather, crop yields, and seasonal climate events are also critical.”

(Adapted from TheGuardian.com)