The land sector (agriculture, forestry and other land uses) is responsible for 22% of anthropogenic emissions. Through causal chain, global warming, by increasing the risks of degradation of permafrost and coastal regions, soil erosion and desertification, could lead to more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While this sector is partly responsible for climate
change mainly through deforestation, it is also one of the most affected. Food chains, in the first place, are already affected in some regions and may be irreversibly so in the future. Land degradation and desertification as well as extreme events such as droughts or floods that will intensify impact agricultural production and weigh heavily on the food security challenge.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just published its latest “Special Report on Climate Change and Land”, prepared by 107 experts from 52 countries and based on 7,000 scientific studies. The authors examined thousands of studies over almost three years to better assess the links between climate change, food security, land degradation and desertification, which is the process of land degradation in dry land areas.
The report is a vital guide for governments as climate change risks grow in a world where the population is heading for 10 billion people by mid-century, threatening to place even greater strains on the planet's limited resources.
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