Land and agriculture

How land is used and preserved is a crucial piece of the climate transition puzzle. People must make choices about how best to use the earth’s resources, and powerful interests should be held accountable for how that affects climate and ecological systems. 

Food is at the heart of global wellbeing and cultures. Livestock production is a major economic driver, employing millions of workers and farmers globally in vital but sometimes dangerous and precarious work. Yet food production is responsible for around one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with the figure projected to grow over the coming decades, with increased demand for meat and dairy responsible for the majority of projected emission growth.

The industrial livestock sector has myriad environmental impacts – on water, air, soil quality and biodiversity, as well as animal welfare and human health. Industrial agriculture also takes place on land that could be used for other purposes, and which could absorb more carbon than farming allows. Protecting the world’s carbon sinks through market mechanisms such as the voluntary carbon market has become a hot political topic in recent years. 

ARIA seeks to explain and explore these issues. Our research and analysis highlights the importance of the livestock sector regarding global climate issues – a relationship that remains under-explored in much public debate about climate change. We have also provided insight into the rapid expansion of nature-based solutions to the climate crisis in the voluntary and other carbon markets, the actors promoting the expansion of market-based mechanisms, and the need for robust regulatory environments to ensure the integrity of such efforts. In these and other ways, we work with journalists, academics and civil society to explore responses to climate change that rely on the transformation of humanity’s relationship with land.