{"id":45459,"date":"2019-04-18T06:22:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T11:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45459"},"modified":"2019-04-18T06:22:05","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T11:22:05","slug":"western-industrial-farming-is-eating-our-forests-and-accelerating-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=45459","title":{"rendered":"Western Industrial Farming Is Eating Our Forests and Accelerating Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image:\u00a0Shutterstock<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Industrial Farming Is Eating Our Forests and Accelerating Climate Change<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The dynamics of deforestation are increasingly inseparable from the growing demand for food from consumers in the most developed countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans are eating the world’s forests. Not directly, of course\u2014but a spate of new studies shows we might as well be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is, of course, extremely bad news for the climate\u2014which is bad news for all life on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deforestation is the world’s second largest source of human-induced carbon emissions, which are the main driver of climate change. Currently we are on course<\/a> to breach the climate danger threshold within 12 years according to the UN. ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a new scientific study by a team of European scientists reveals that the biggest cause of deforestation is industrial farming\u2014and the major culprits include some of the most well-known names in Western agribusiness, such as Cargill and Bunge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating the planet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study<\/a>, published in the journal Global Environmental Change<\/em> at the end of March, is the first of its kind to demonstrate the extent to which deforestation in the tropics is directly driven by industrial food production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focusing on the period between 2010 and 2014, it shows that beef and oilseed products account for over half of emissions from tropical deforestation, with Europe and China among the major importers. And overall, global trade in such products accounts for up to 39 percent of emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n