Issue #06: Look to the oceans
Our Top Stories
Promise of a sustainable seafood system: The Environmental Defense Fund presents the case for a new, more resilient food system, focussed on investing in sustainable wild fishery management, and the expansion of aquaculture (essentially farming fish in the water). To achieve sustainable wild fisheries, stricter controls need to be put in place to avoid the overexploitation of fish populations and to protect the larger ecosystem. These methods then need to be implemented across political boundaries as stocks move. Aquaculture also holds great promise but is in need of technological advancements and fish feed innovation in order to fulfil its potential of feeding a far greater portion of the world’s population. While action is needed to satisfy the above criteria, all the ingredients to build a sustainable seafood system are very much in reach.?
The main principles to consider to achieve a sustainable wild fishery. Source: Marine Stewardship Council
Using voluntary carbon markets to achieve net-zero goals: Voluntary carbon markets are already widely used as a means of mitigating businesses’ emissions - here Resources for the Future discuss the issues that need to be resolved these offsets to have maximum effect. Offsetting comes under a lot of scrutiny due to the large variation in the quality of carbon removal, but the market is vital to combatting climate change, and may need to grow by a factor of 100 to meet the Paris Agreements. Creating a robust verification structure and an airtight regulatory process are crucial steps to ensuring that its necessary rapid expansion will be beneficial to society and the planet.
The Nature-based Solutions Conference: The Carbon Brief summarises the takeaways of the Oxford-based event, which focussed largely on how nature-based solutions (NbS) can be used to tackle the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. While it concluded that NbS must be scaled up effectively and fairly - based on evidence from many international success stories - the biggest concern lies in the risk that NbS can be used as a distraction from the need to cut fossil-fuel emissions. A new priority, it was suggested, was to make the UN biodiversity conference (COP15) in December “a Paris Agreement for nature”, with the creation of a new ambitious NbS framework.?
Big Chain Sustainability Stores: Greggs and Morrisons have both opened sustainability-focused stores this week, Edie reports. The new Morrisons store is predicted to produce 43% fewer emissions than older stores, with technologies such as solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system built in. The Greggs store will focus on energy savings, through new ovens and fridges that will require 10% and 50% less energy respectively than their predecessors. These stores have been set-up as part of both brands’ roadmaps to meet net-zero targets by 2035.
The new Greggs eco-shop in Northampton, UK. Source: Greggs
Research Corner
Unprecedented river changes: Humans have been solely responsible for consequential changes to river sediment flow, directly affecting the nutrient supply of our agricultural soils and the natural climate change mitigation that rivers provide, Evan Dethier and his team have found. Sediment levels have dropped dramatically in the Northern Hemisphere due to persistent dam construction, which in turn has reduced the nutrient densities in soils and also removed a major buffer to the effects of sea level rises in low lying countries. The team hopes to use this study to inform future planning decisions and environmental management policies.
Stat Attack
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“Large areas of English habitats have been lost with 99.7% of fens, 97% of species-rich grasslands, 80% of lowland heathlands, up to 70% of ancient woodlands and up to 85% of salt marshes destroyed or degraded.”
Source: The Environment Agency
The Big Picture
Carbon footprint of selected countries and its breakdown between consumption domains. 2030 and 2050 country emissions targets are also displayed. Source: Hot or Cool
About Reewild
The food and agriculture industry is at the heart of the climate crisis, generating around a third of man-made greenhouse emissions. And while the challenge of reducing its impact may seem beyond our grasp, it is one that we all have the power to tackle.
We believe that the solution lies in climate transparency. That’s why we’re equipping businesses with the means to evaluate and communicate the emissions of their products. This, in turn, means consumers are armed with credible, independent information, which can be used to make more sustainable choices.
We know that many people want to take climate action but lack the necessary tools and information to do so. We're confident that, armed with the right knowledge, everyone can and will do their bit to build a greener, more sustainable food system.