Keys to reducing the impact of agriculture on climate change

August 2013

Land is not being used to its best advantage according to a new study by Ikerbasque Professor Unai Pascual from the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and University of Cambridge, and a team of environmental economists from Europe. Research published in the journal Science (5th July 2013) shows that allowing land use to be determined purely by agricultural markets results in considerable financial and environmental costs to the public. The research concludes that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy must account for the cost of not working with nature. It is time to reward farmers for securing the vital ecosystem services that are highly valued by society. Farmers can be the stewards of our landscapes so that we as a society we can pass them in a healthy state to the next generations.

Read more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130716075845.htm