What changes are needed in food, farming and forestry?

Emissions also come from land use changes like deforestation or ecosystem conversion, driven by agriculture, forestry and resource extraction.

What’s special about the agriculture, forestry and land use sector is that it can act both as a source of greenhouse gas emissions and as a ‘carbon sink’, as it can also remove CO₂ from the atmosphere (Nabuurs et al., 2022). These CO₂ removals can be achieved, for example, through planting trees, restoring natural ecosystems, and even through certain agricultural techniques like permaculture or agroecology. The balance between emissions and removals is often called net emissions (emissions minus removals).

Reducing (net) emissions from food, farming, forestry, and land use

Now, let’s take a look at what can be done to reduce (net) emissions from food, farming, forestry and land use.

Launch the exercise.

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Share your thoughts

Think about how these measures relate to your own context. Which changes do you find most desirable or important, and why? It might help to consider the following:

• What eating patterns are common in your culture? 
• How does food waste manifest in your community? 
• How easy or hard is it to access sustainable food options where you live?  
• What barriers exist to implementing the outlined changes in your context?  

Share and discuss your responses with other learners in the Comments section.