Sir, – It is legitimate to wish to increase Irish agricultural output but it is also necessary to examine the link between agriculture and climate change.
Both the EU and UN have very demanding ambitions with regard to climate change. Ireland faces and will continue to face growing obligations to achieve 20 per cent to 30 per cent and eventually more than 50 per cent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in coming decades and so cannot ignore any sector of the economy, however deserving.
Ireland is among those countries in Europe and the world with a high level of emissions per capita and, unfortunately, although fully understandably, a very high level of emissions from agriculture. This presents challenges we need to address rather than rather sidestep. We are a long way from best pupil in the class!
We have a role in the world food market but an equally important one in contributing to good governance and climate change reduction. It is not Ireland’s business to tell other countries what to eat but neither can it be our business to add to an immense global problem.
A climate and agriculture strategy would be a very useful contribution to policy development and would complement Food Wise 2025. But it needs to be independent because its remit should be far wider than providing environmental backup to Food Wise.
Such a strategy could, for instance, look at the likely effects of climate change in coming decades and their relevance for agriculture and land use in Ireland. It would do so against a scenario that, under business as usual, a global 3-4 Celsius temperature rise by century’s end seems increasingly likely and that world food production is facing enormous problems of reduced water supply, soil degradation and diminished ecosystem services.
It could examine and make proposals regarding the potential for carbon sequestration and emissions reductions (there are many possibilities) and the role of education, advice, research, and the farm input and processing industries in helping to reduce emissions and in making Irish farming continuously more carbon efficient and less carbon emitting.
There is considerable research already on some of these subjects but it seems not yet fully to have reached the policy agenda. The strategy could address each of the farm sectors and suggest where expansion would be best advised and where expansion could exacerbate emissions. It could look at the forest sector in terms of potential and problems. It could deal with the difficult issues of carrot and stick in a sector with so many players!
The strategy would be a major step towards climate-smart agriculture in Ireland and an important contributor to worldwide thinking. I would not prejudge its outcome with regard to Irish agricultural output but I would expect it to guide reflections on how to reduce emissions while increasing output, if that is possible. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL HAMELL,
Adjunct Professor
of Agriculture,
UCD,
Dublin 4.
Sir, –Dr Lorna Gold (July 14th) suggests that the statement I quoted in my article of July 1st ("Climate focus on farm emissions is misguided", Opinion & Analysis) from a summarising speaker at the Maynooth conference ("The Irish equivalent of keeping fossil fuels in the ground is to reduce agricultural emissions") was an isolated statement that did not capture the mood of the conference.
This suggestion runs contrary to Patsy McGarry’s report of the conference (June 24th) in which he quotes a local speaker as singling out the Departure of Agriculture for special criticism because of its efforts to protect Irish agriculture from the most serious effects of the forthcoming EU emissions reductions targets.
It also runs contrary to the speech of Bill McKibben in which he equates the “vested interests” of the agricultural sector in the Irish context with those of the fossil fuel industry in the global context, and calls for agricultural transformation here in close conjunction with references to civil disobedience. The sentiments expressed by various members of the audience in the discussion sessions further support the view that the summarising speaker was accurately representing the mood of the conference in the above statement.
Given the special position of this country as a low-emissions food producer and a major food exporter, I believe our agri-food sector represents something more than “vested interests” and that those criticising the Government for attempting to protect this sector are failing to strike a proper balance between protecting our vital national interests and fulfilling our international obligations. – Yours, etc,
RAY BATES
Meteorology and
Climate Centre ,
UCD,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – I attended the Maynooth conference that was organised by Trócaire and a highlight was the talk given by Bill McKibbin. Not once was the rapid human population growth that has happened over the past 150 years mentioned, where the population has grown from 1 billion people to today’s current population of 7.3 billion, and which is is expected to reach anything between 10 billion and 12 billion by the end of this century. In Pope Francis’s recent encyclical on the environment, human population numbers were not mentioned, neither as part of the solution nor as part of the problem.
Everyone is sidestepping this issue while we expect our farming community to take the hit. – Yours, etc,
DAVE KIERNAN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.