Revamping Organic Farming and Its Products in the Context of Climate Change Mitigation Strategies

Revamping organic farming and its products in the context of climate change mitigation strategies

World Environment Day 2016 Sala di Degustazione - Istituto Tecnico Agrario Emilio Sereni – Roma – 06 June 2016

World Environment Day, climate change and agriculture

Sergio Andreis, Director – Kyoto Club World Environment Day 2016 - 1st Awareness-raising programme - Istituto Tecnico Agrario Emilio Sereni – - Roma - 06 June 2016

Kyoto Club is a non-profit organisation founded in February 1999. Its members are business companies, associations and local municipalities and governments engaged in reaching the greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, by the EU ones for 2030 and by the December 2015 Paris Agreement.

To reach its goals and to support bio, green and circular economy patterns, Kyoto Club promotes awareness -raising initiatives , information and training to foster energy efficiency , renewable energy sources , waste reduction and recycling and sustainable mobility .

Towards Italian, EU and UNFCCC public decision-makers, Kyoto Club puts forward policy proposals to make institutional decisions more and more environmentally friendly.

Revamping organic farming and its products in the context of climate change mitigation strategies World Environment Day 2016 - 1st Awareness-raising programme - Istituto Tecnico Agrario Emilio Sereni – - Roma - 06 June 2016

World Environment Day

A PLATFORM FOR ACTION World Environment Day (WED) is the United Nations’ most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries.

THE PEOPLE’S DAY Above all, WED serves as the ‘people’s day’ for doing something to take care of the Earth or become an agent of change. That ‘something’ can be focused locally, nationally or globally; it can be a solo action or involve a crowd – everyone is free to choose.

THE THEME Each WED is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. WED 2016 is themed on the illegal trade in wildlife under the slogan Go Wild for Life .

EUROPEAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WEEK (ESDW)

The ESDW is a European-wide initiative to stimulate and make visible activities, projects and events that promote sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It takes place every year from 30 May until 05 June.

Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development United Nations Sustainable Development Summit - 25-27 September 2015.

CLIMATE CHANGE 2014: IMPACTS, ADAPTATION, AND VULNERABILITY IPCC – Warming over the 21st century

The world reaction: the COP 21 and the Paris Agreement : + 1,5 C

http://www.cmcc.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Paris_agreement_ITA.pdf

Italy in 2100 ?

The ozone layer success story

http://www.eea.europa.eu/signals/signals-2015/articles/agriculture-and-climate-change

Agriculture contributes to climate change Before reaching our plates, our food is produced, stored, processed, packaged, transported, prepared, and served. At every stage, food provisioning releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Farming in particular releases significant amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, two powerful greenhouse gases. Methane is produced by livestock during digestion due to enteric fermentation and is released via belches. It can also escape from stored manure and organic waste in landfills. Nitrous oxide emissions are an indirect product of organic and mineral nitrogen fertilisers.

Agriculture accounted for 10 % of the EU’s total greenhouse -gas emissions in 2012 . A significant decline in livestock numbers, more efficient application of fertilisers, and better manure management reduced the EU’s emissions from agriculture by 24% between 1990 and 2012.

However, agriculture in the rest of the world is moving in the opposite direction. Between 2001 and 2011, global emissions from crop and livestock production grew by 14%. The increase occurred mainly in developing countries, due to a rise in total agricultural output. This was driven by increased global food demand and changes in food-consumption patterns due to rising incomes in some developing countries. Emissions from enteric fermentation increased 11% in this period and accounted for 39% of the sector's total greenhouse-gas outputs in 2011.

Climate change affects agriculture Crops need suitable soil, water, sunlight, and heat to grow. Warmer air temperatures have already affected the length of the growing season over large parts of Europe. Flowering and harvest dates for cereal crops are now happening several days earlier in the season. These changes are expected to continue in many regions.

In general, in northern Europe agricultural productivity might increase due to a longer growing season and an extension of the frost-free period. Warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons might also allow new crops to be cultivated. In southern Europe, however, extreme heat events and reductions in precipitation and water availability are expected to hamper crop productivity. Crop yields are also expected to vary increasingly from year to year due to extreme weather events and other factors such as pests and diseases .

In parts of the Mediterranean area, due to extreme heat and water stress in summer months, some summer crops might be cultivated in winter instead. Other areas, such as western France and south-eastern Europe, are expected to face yield reductions due to hot and dry summers without the possibility of shifting crop production into winter.

Changes in temperatures and growing seasons might also affect the proliferation and the spreading of some species, such as insects, invasive weeds, or diseases, all of which might in turn affect crop yields. A part of the potential yield losses can be offset by farming practices, such as rotating crops to match water availability, adjusting sowing dates to temperature and rainfall patterns, and using crop varieties better suited to new conditions (e.g. heat- and drought-resilient crops).

Thank you for your attention !

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Revamping organic farming and its products in the context of climate change mitigation strategies