Higher emission targets for agriculture are not only crucial for our climate, but for water and air quality, biodiversity, and food security, say three environmental NGOs.
“Almost no consideration is being given to the water pollution, air pollution, biodiversity loss and food security issues associated with agricultural intensification in the ongoing deliberations on the sectoral emissions ceilings for the agricultural sector,” Environmental Pillar, Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and Sustainable Water Network (Swan) have said.
In a joint statement the three groups said that “a 22 per cent target for agriculture is neither fair nor feasible, as it would mean a 68 per cent reduction in emissions across the rest of society. Furthermore, it will lock in agricultural intensification and the associated negative impacts on water, air, nature, and food security.”
They called on the Government “to support farmers to move away from intensive livestock agriculture and reinstate balance through farm diversification, and socially and environmentally friendly farming practices.”
Sinead O’Brien of Swan, a network of 25 national and local environmental groups, pointed out “agriculture is by far the biggest polluter of our water. While we are rightly disgusted by the discharge of raw and poorly treated sewage into our waters, the truth is that agricultural run-off causes a lot more damage: It’s responsible for degrading five times as many water bodies. That’s a whopping 1,000 polluted waters, up 29 per cent over the last four years.”
She noted how “escalating nitrates and phosphate levels in our rivers, estuaries and coasts are clearly linked to dairy expansion, which is choking our rivers and bays with overgrowths of algae and depriving freshwater species such as salmon and dragonflies of much-needed healthy freshwater habitat”.
Dr Elaine McGoff of Environmental Pillar, which represents over 30 national, independent environmental NGOs, said around the country “safe levels of ammonia air pollution are being exceeded. The agriculture sector accounts for virtually all of the ammonia emissions in Ireland, and the growth in emissions is directly linked to the cattle numbers and increased fertiliser use. Ammonia pollution can kill sensitive plants and habitats and damage human health and should not be ignored in the debate on the future of Irish agriculture.”
Dr Bríd Walsh of Stop Climate Chaos, a coalition of civil society organisation, said that currently “the agricultural sector contributes 37.5 per cent of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions” and that “high agricultural emissions from our livestock sector are a key contributing factor to Ireland having the third highest per capita emissions in the EU.”
As a matter of urgency, she called for farmers to be “incentivised and supported to protect biodiversity and water quality, and transition towards socially and environmentally friendly farming practices such as agroecology, organic farming and agroforestry. This is crucial for long-term food security, food sovereignty, and the overall sustainability of our food system.”
Meanwhile a Fianna Fáil TD has said that the agriculture sector does not want “a Brexit scenario” that sees drawn-out negotiations over greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
West Cork TD Christopher O’Sullivan said the agriculture sector wants action now and that “kicking the can down the road isn’t going to help.”
“Everybody wants certainty. They don’t want the Brexit scenario here, they don’t want something that is long and drawn out,” he told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
Mr O’Sullivan said he thought it would be a disaster to push back a decision on emission targets to September.
“It would be a disaster for two reasons: one, we are running out of time when it comes to taking action on climate change ... we need to take action now. Kicking the can down the road isn’t going to help.
“Secondly, and just as important to me . . . when we talk about farming in west Cork, this isn’t the big expansive farm which some people refer to as big dairy. Family farms here are between 90 and 100 or maybe 150 cows and these farmers are concerned, they’re anxious, they’re worried about what limits may mean for them in the future and they want an answer now,” he said.
“Prolonging this isn’t going to help, it’s just going to increase things, it’s going to increase the finger pointing that is going on at the ag sector which I think is very unfair.”
Mr O’Sullivan was hopeful that a target could be agreed today.
When asked what target level for agriculture Fianna Fáil would like to see, he said it would not be the 30 per cent emissions cut being advocated by the Greens.
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“We think that figure would have a huge detrimental impact on what is a really important industry for rural parts of Ireland. At the same time we’re not signing up to the Rural Independents or Sinn Féin policy where they don’t have an opinion on it.”
“Whatever happens is going to be a huge challenge. In other sectors such as transport there are alternatives ... unfortunately in agriculture because the technology isn’t there at the moment, anything up around the 30 per cent mark is going to lead to job losses so we have to embrace technology,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“We have to get serious about climate action.”
Officials and Ministers spent much of Wednesday locked in negotiations on reducing agriculture emissions after late-night talks on Tuesday failed to yield a deal. Officials said negotiations were continuing.
After pessimism earlier in the week, multiple sources involved in the talks reported that progress was being made and the sides were coming closer together. However, they cautioned that nothing final been agreed and that a deal was unlikely to be struck before Thursday.
The Government on Wednesday night reported it did not implement more than half of the measures in its climate action plan during the second quarter of the year, as Ministers again failed to reach agreement on an emissions reduction target for the agriculture sector.
A progress report on the Climate Action Plan, noted at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, found that just 45 per cent of the 162 specific measures due to be taken in April, May and June were actually implemented.
