Reversing Meat-Eating Culture to Combat Climate Change

Following an overview of the environmental impacts of meat production, this report turns to an outline of the research addressing changing to meat free diets and by doing so I review research into both the barriers and incentives to adopting a meat free diet. I then turn to a more sociological consideration of meat-eating and discuss the cultural and social practices which surround our food choices and beliefs about the necessity of meat in our diets. What this report does not do, however, is consider historical arguments about the “rights” of humans to eat meat or arguments from moral philosophers regarding the rights of other animals not to be eaten. While recognising that these arguments are highly important I have elected to omit them here partly due to confines of space and partly because they detract from the central issue which is not whether humans should eat animals because they (arguably) always have done so, but is whether the environment can sustain current meat-eating practices. - Dr. Nik Taylor

Livestock Production and Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers

Livestock Production and Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers

Plant-Based Diets - A solution to our public health crisis

Plant-Based Diets - A solution to our public health crisis

Leaders Preserving Our Future - Insights Paper - WPF - November 2010

This Insights Paper has been designed to accompany the World Preservation Foundation’s (WPF) campaign on getting the domestic and international political communities to recalibrate their priorities on climate change. We have drawn extensively on established scientific studies to deliver a report which calls for greater focus to be placed on tackling shorter-lived climate forcers such as methane, black carbon and ozone emissions.

Whilst acknowledging the important role of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in global warming, the WPF has arrived at the conclusion, informed by leading scientists, that tackling shorter-term climate forcers is indispensable to mitigating the threat of imminent climate tipping-points which could soon be breached as a result of human activity.

The report proceeds by addressing the environmental damage of these forcers, in relation to carbon dioxide, and then explores the important role of food production and the livestock sector in emitting such substances. It concludes by providing recommendations and discussing potential areas for government action which could both help make farming more environmentally friendly and stimulate more sustainable modes of living on our planet.

Maintaining a Climate of Life - Summary Report

Livestock's Climate Impact

Livestock & Sustainable Food

Reducing Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers Through Dietary Change

Reducing Shorter-Lived Climate Forcers Through Dietary Change

The global cost of biodiversity loss: 14 trillion Euros? - EU Commission (2008)

The global cost of biodiversity loss: 14 trillion Euros? - EU Commission (2008)

Forests, Fisheries, Agriculture: A Vision for Sustainability (2009)

Forests, Fisheries, Agriculture: A Vision for Sustainability

Expert consultation on greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potentials in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Sectors

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy, 2- 4 December 2009

Author: Dr. Robert Goodland

Dr. Goodland is former World Bank lead environmental advisor and was awarded the first Coolidge Memorial Medal by the World Conservation Union in 2008 for outstanding contributions to environmental conservation.

Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 - United Nations (2010)

Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 - Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2010)

In 2002, the world's leaders agreed to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Having reviewed all available evidence, including national reports submitted by Parties, this third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook concludes that the target has not been met. Moreover, the Outlook warns, the principal pressures leading to biodiversity loss are not just constant but are, in some cases, intensifying.

The consequences of this collective failure, if it is not quickly corrected, will be severe for us all. Biodiversity underpins the functioning of the ecosystems on which we depend for food and fresh water, health and recreation, and protection from natural disasters. Its loss also affects us culturally and spiritually. This may be more difficult to quantify, but is nonetheless integral to our well-being.

Current trends are bringing us closer to a number of potential tipping points that would catastrophically reduce the capacity of ecosystems to provide these essential services. The poor, who tend to be most immediately dependent on them, would suffer first and most severely. At stake are the principal objectives outlined in the Millennium Development Goals: food security, poverty eradication and a healthier population.

The conservation of biodiversity makes a critical contribution to moderating the scale of climate change and reducing its negative impacts by making ecosystems -- and therefore human societies -- more resilient. It is therefore essential that the challenges related to biodiversity and climate change are tackled in a coordinated manner and given equal priority.

In several important areas, national and international action to support biodiversity is moving in a positive direction. More land and sea areas are being protected, more countries are fighting the serious threat of invasive alien species, and more money is being set aside for implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity.

However, these efforts are too often undermined by conflicting policies. To tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss, we must give it higher priority in all areas of decision-making and in all economic sectors. As this third Global Biodiversity Outlook makes clear, conserving biodiversity cannot be an afterthought once other objectives are addressed - it is the foundation on which many of these objectives are built. We need a new vision for biological diversity for a healthy planet and a sustainable future for humankind.

Ban Ki Moon - Secretary General, United Nations

Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra powerpoint

Anthony Kleanthous powerpoint

Dr. David Vaughan powerpoint

Dr. Ester van der Voet powerpoint

Dr. Joel Fuhrman powerpoint -afternoon

Dr. Joel Fuhrman powerpoint - lunchtime

Geoff Tansey powerpoint

Dr. Hsien Hui Khoo powerpoint

Professor Jefferson Simoes powerpoint

Jens Holm powerpoint

John Topping powerpoint

Toivo Jokkala powerpoint

Dr. Pat Brown powerpoint