A Climate of Denial: Food Systems offer Environmental Vigour amidst Political Churn

It’s now certain that 2024, which delivered intense heat-waves, the warmest consecutive days globally and catastrophic storms, will also be the hottest year on record – according to projections by Copernicus.

Global average temperatures for 2024 are on track to end up more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which would make it the first calendar year to breach this  mark. These high temperatures are mainly down to human-caused climate change and the trend is likely to bring South Africans their hottest summer yet, leading to droughts and flooding. 

Amid this backdrop of atmospheric swelter, food-awareness organisation ProVeg International will be hosting talks with key policymakers involved in agriculture and climate adaptation negotiations at the Action on Food Hub Pavilion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference [COP29] happening this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. ProVeg and other speakers will share their views on challenges and opportunities for advancing more resilient agricultural practices. This will offer a view into the ongoing efforts shaping the future of sustainable food systems and adaptation policies, particularly in light of the Emirates Declaration on Food and Agriculture, signed by 159 countries at COP28.

During early November Prince William arrived in South Africa from the United Kingdom to bring to Africa his mission to combat the world’s environmental challenges. The visit took place to showcase his prestigious Earthshot Prize, aimed at finding innovative solutions to climate issues, which led up to a star-studded awards gala at the Cape Town Stadium. Despite contributing the least to global warming, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the impacts of a changing climate. Mindful of this peril ProVeg South Africa highlighted a critical exclusion in nominations for Earthshot award candidates in that the focus for acknowledgement was on projects involving energy, transportation, infrastructure, materials manufacturing, petrochemical replacements, recycling and waste management – demonstrating little cognizance of the glut of issues around the food system.

Animal agriculture and the value chain of animal products is a high-output producer of potent greenhouse gas emissions, which by itself eats up almost the entire United Nations Sustainable Development carbon emissions budget per annum. Furthermore the Earth is currently undergoing its sixth mass extinction as a result of human activity, largely based on consumption habits, with our present agricultural system being the biggest driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss. 

In a stark narrative shift away from Royal environmental soirées; the awards ceremony on Wednesday November 6th came under the smog of geopolitics and the media barrage of the re-election of Donald Trump in America, and the ‘red avalanche’ of rearrangements in Congress. This shock-return to the Oval Office threatens to worsen global climate change by altering the orientation toward greenhouse gas emissions by the world’s wealthiest country, eroding their nation’s climate research and abdicating America’s leadership role in global climate negotiations.

Climate scientists have now warned that the Paris Agreement’s warming targets are slipping dangerously out of reach, and Trump’s emphasis on drilling for more oil and gas – if paired with rollbacks of emissions-limiting regulations – could lead to significantly more greenhouse gas emissions in the United States: the country which also has the highest global per capita meat consumption at an average of around 120 kilograms of meat per person per year.

The Republican candidate-elect has a long record of threatening scientists’ independence, including at the Environmental Protection Agency and weather and climate-related agencies, and his previous administration notoriously attempted to insert flagrant climate-deniers into public office. With America now almost guaranteed to abandon its captaincy and initiatives on climate reforms over the next four years; COP29 ironically punctuates the beginning of an era of tribulation and a re-drawing of international strategies to address climate change and its dangers – in which developing countries such as South Africa and particularly other BRICS partners will play a key role as they are collectively responsible for a large tranche of the world’s carbon emissions.

The BRICS group of emerging economies emitted a record 1.98 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from power generation alone during the first quarter of 2024, data from energy think-tank Ember showed. In 2018 the [then five] BRICS countries accounted for 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions. China was the world’s first-ranked emitter with 28% of the global total, with the United States a distant second at 15%. South Africa stood at 13th globally and as the second highest carbon emission per capita emitter in the BRICS group. Now more than ever the impact and obligation of BRICS members will be at its all-time apogee to sustainably reduce their own emissions in order to compensate for a lack of environmental priority by the star-spangled superpower.

At the conclusion of July 2024 President Cyril Ramaphosa signed South Africa’s new Climate Change Bill into law, coincidentally one day after the hottest average two consecutive days on Earth ever recorded. The Act sets out the legal mandate for a nationwide response to align policy with limits on greenhouse gas emissions, including the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. The new regulation is the country’s first comprehensive piece of legislation in this area which constitutes its contribution to the global climate change response, incorporating South Africa’s Paris Agreement targets or nationally determined contributions [NDCs] into law. 

The aim with this is to enhance the country’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience, while promoting opportunities for new jobs in the green economy. While the Bill – some would say arriving belatedly in this the third decade of the new millennium – represents a milestone in the country’s action on climate change; once again the food system and its carbon footprint proved to be a vital omission considering farmed animals are responsible for 32% of global methane emissions, which is about 80 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. ProVeg South Africa proposes that future amendments to the Bill should focus on reducing our country’s reliance on animal agriculture, cutting emissions and freeing up land that can be used for carbon sequestration instead.

Despite the new, plausibly token and performative, roll-out of legislation; the ruling party appears to remain mysteriously tone-deaf to the pressing realities and causes of climate change as South Africa’s Vhembe Biosphere Reserve – a UNESCO-designated sanctuary renowned for its rich biodiversity – is under immediate threat as developers prepare for the green massacre of clearing more than 125,000 hectares of indigenous vegetation for the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone project. This includes 658,058 protected trees and an estimated 20,000 of the country’s iconic and revered baobabs. The development, paired with ten new planned coal mines, has led to questions regarding the region’s real attitude and commitment towards environmental sustainability, and whether South Africa is on a genuine trajectory for reaching its climate goals at all. 

While the country’s ongoing energy crisis and the widespread national blackouts of electricity supply known colloquially as ‘load-shedding’ is set to continue as the parastatal Eskom builds capacity and remedies poorly-maintained infrastructures; South Africa moving towards sustainable food systems and plant-based agriculture is one of the most effective and pragmatic options for the country to reach its NDCs and help combat climate change; the consequences of which will – if left unaddressed – will ultimately manifest devastatingly on its own shores.

For scientific metrics about the benefits of plant-based eating, see ProVeg’s Food System Data.

ENDS

Media Contact

ProVeg South Africa – Wikus Engelbrecht – Communications Manager: [email protected]; +27 64 172 0120

About ProVeg South Africa:

ProVeg South Africa is the local branch of ProVeg International. ProVeg is an international food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system by replacing conventional animal-based products with plant-based and cultured alternatives.

ProVeg works with international decision-making bodies, governments, food producers, investors, the media, and the general public to help the world transition to a society and economy that are less dependent on animal agriculture and more sustainable for humans, animals, and the planet.