Farming issues aired at Copenhagen

Joyce and Barbara provide the latest update from Copenhagen.

As we were boarding our plane for Copenhagen, we bumped into famous primatologist Jane Goodall DBE, who had given a moving keynote speech at our 2005 conference on animal sentience. Jane told us that her mission at the Climate Change conference was "to save the forests."

This is also an important issue for Compassion. Not only are forests home to billions of wild animals, but they are being cut down to supply the feed crops for intensively reared animals and for cattle ranching. Also on the plane was one of Compassion's Patrons, Sir Crispin Tickell, environmentalist and former UK Ambassador to the United Nations.

Our first day in Copenhagen was Agriculture and Rural Development Day. Over three hundred delegates including farmers, policymakers, scientists and campaign groups attended a conference to discuss the role of agriculture in climate change.

We actively participated by raising farm animal issues, talking to delegates and distributing our new reports which proved very popular. Our latest report "Eating the Planet" was met with particular interest as it shows how we can feed the world humanely and sustainably in 2050.

There are many reasons why agriculture needs to be on the Climate Change agenda. It is a major contributor to climate change, with livestock production alone accounting for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists agree that even if emissions were drastically cut now, a rise in temperature of 2oc is inevitable, potentially changing the amount of rainfall over much of the world. With 95% of small-scale African farmers relying on rainfall alone for irrigating their crops, it becomes clear why climate change and food security are inseparable issues.

The delegates rightly showed huge commitment to protecting these farmers' livelihoods, but we sometimes felt that the bigger picture had been forgotten. Although a few delegates raised the issue of over-consumption of meat and dairy and its implications for food security, the effects that intensification of livestock production would have on the welfare of farm animals was sadly missing in the discussions (except for when we raised it!).

It is clear that we have a huge task ahead to ensure that animal welfare is not sacrificed in future climate change policy decisions.

However, we were encouraged when Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, spoke of the need to promote organic and local food production and healthier eating in the US, which has one of the highest levels of obesity in the world. It was good to hear him refer to some of Compassion's key food related issues!

Meanwhile, out on the streets of Copenhagen, tens of thousands of protesters marched to demand a strong climate change deal. Compassion believes that any deal agreed should include strategies for sustainable farming and meat reduction.