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Employees of an agricultural cooperative in front of a wheat field
Photo: Patrick Pleul / picture alliance / dpa
The Scientific Advisory Board on Global Change (WBGU) has called for a fundamental change in land use in Germany.
"Only if the way we deal with land changes fundamentally can the climate protection goals be achieved, the dramatic loss of biological diversity averted and the global food system made sustainable," says the current report of the advisory committee of the federal government.
That means: more organic farming, less meat, large protected areas to promote climate and species protection.
The German Advisory Council on Global Change announced that the state should recommend a diet that preserves the “health” of the planet.
On the subject of land use, the experts wrote a report for Research Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) and Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD).
Food prices are supposed to reflect the cost of ecological destruction
In it they also recommend the "Planetary Health Diet".
As the Federal Center for Nutrition explains, this would mean roughly doubling the consumption of fruit and vegetables, pulses and nuts worldwide and halving the consumption of meat and sugar.
The costs of the destruction of the ecosystems should "flow as fully as possible into the prices for food".
An orientation to the "Planetary Health Diet" should be anchored as a principle in nutritional guidelines and also recommended by the Federal Government.
The advisory committee explains that the necessary change in land use includes restoring forests, wetlands and grasslands in order to create habitats and at the same time remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
30 percent of the world's land area should become protected areas, and international quality criteria should apply to these.
In addition, the expert panel insists on promoting agriculture that is "based on diversity" - in the EU this means, for example, "turning away from industrial agriculture" and "comprehensive greening".
This promotes food security, climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity at the same time.
Biodiversity is currently experiencing "a dramatic man-made mass extinction" worldwide.
However, this also significantly reduces the ability of ecosystems to contribute to climate regulation and food security.
New approach to agricultural subsidies required
At the same time, the predominantly industrial agriculture practiced up to now is not only destroying the natural foundations of life, but also endangering the health of many people through overconsumption and incorrect consumption of food while others suffer from hunger.
As a way out, the experts recommend a "comprehensive greening" of the agricultural sector.
Instead of area-based direct payments to farmers, as is particularly common in the EU, "agricultural subsidies should always be linked to ecological improvements".
In the industrialized countries, the consumption of animal products should be reduced.
In addition, building with wood offers opportunities to store carbon in the long term - but the wood must come from sustainable forestry appropriate to the location.
"Land is a global commons: Mankind must take responsibility for shaping the land in order to enable climate protection, biodiversity conservation and food security, and implement these nationally and internationally," the paper says.
One instrument for this could be new "global conservation communities" of states or other actors at the international level.
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