Today, over 90 environment, development, food and agriculture groups called on governments to urgently slash agricultural emissions by supporting a 'just transition' away from industrial agriculture to a food system based on agroecology.[1] The open letter issued at the start of the UN's flagship livestock conference at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome comes weeks before world leaders gather for the COP30 climate talks. Failure to act will render it impossible to restrict the global temperature rise to the 1.5°C limit or protect vital ecosystems like the Amazon.
At the conference entrance, Greenpeace Italy activists staged an intensive livestock farm complete with pink smoke to reflect rising methane emissions and sound effects to demand a just transition away from industrialised meat and dairy production. Delegates were greeted by 10 large cages containing activists dressed as cows and pigs with placards saying 'Farms not Factories', 'Just Transition: Agroecology Now' and 'Big Meat and Dairy are Cooking the Planet.'
Shefali Sharma, Campaigner, Greenpeace International said: "Industrial agriculture is polluting water, depleting soils, razing forests and turbo-charging global warming. Yet meat and dairy giants keep pushing limited techno-fixes and false solutions while blocking the real transformation our food system needs."
"With COP30 on the horizon, world leaders must stand up to these vested interests and act to keep us within the 1.5°C Paris limit. That means shifting agriculture toward farming that restores ecosystems and supports rural communities, and away from the extractive model that is destroying them."
Noting the IPCC finding that food systems are responsible for up to 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, signatories to the letter argue that 'To meet climate, biodiversity and pollution goals and uphold human rights, we must fundamentally transform how we produce, distribute, and consume food.'[2] Signatories call on governments to 'incentivize agricultural practices that restore ecosystems, support biodiversity, and ensure access to healthy and nutritious foods for all.'
Million Belay, General Coordinator, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA)said: "There is a major push by global agribusiness and donors to intensify and industrialise African livestock and agriculture. But adopting the Global North livestock model affects both our health and the environment as it drives deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions, and contaminates our lands with manure and chemicals, and antibiotic resistance through routine drug use.
"Instead, we're working with our policymakers to champion production systems based on agroecology and Indigenous approaches that make us more climate resilient and strengthen pastoral communities and family farms."
Teresa Anderson, Global Climate Justice Lead, ActionAid International said: "Corporate-controlled industrial agriculture is the second largest cause of climate change, and the biggest driver of deforestation. But it's a myth that we need agrochemicals, factory farms and land grabs to feed the world. Agroecological farming methods work with nature instead of against it, cut emissions, and are more resilient to climate change impacts. Agroecology is just a climate no-brainer.
"The world's farmers need systematic planning, training and support to ensure that food systems are fit for purpose in an era of climate change. That's why growing demands for a 'just transition' are so relevant for agriculture. COP30 will be held in Belém, in the Amazon. With the world's largest ecosystem under threat from aggressive deforestation caused by industrial agriculture, a just transition in agriculture would be a powerful and fitting outcome from COP."
