Julian presses Foreign Office ministers on food security and climate change
April 20, 2021
Julian this morning questioned Foreign Office ministers in the House of Commons about ensuring that the challenge of global food security is kept at the heart of government action on climate change and international aid.
At Questions to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Julian asked:
“A major hurdle in reducing world carbon emissions is our need to sustainably produce 70% more food by 2050, to feed nearly 2 billion additional people.
So can the Minister therefore reassure me that this vital issue of global food security will be kept at the forefront of Britain’s global climate and development strategies going forward?”
Foreign Office minister James Duddridge responded “I can certainly…..in fact, the global transition to sustainable agriculture, and specifically key land use, is a key focus of our COP26 [United Nations Climate Change Conference] nature campaign, and we are seeking to make further international progress towards climate resilience and sustainable agriculture through the transition to sustainable agriculture dialogues, which will begin next week, so the question is very timely.”
After leaving the Commons, Julian said: “It is easy to forget that the problem of climate change is not just how do we reduce our impact on the planet, but how do we do so while coping with the enormous demands for increased food production that rising global population requires.
Therefore, I thought it was important to flag this with the Foreign Office, and I am reassured that action is forthcoming, including at the UN climate conference our country is hosting this year in Glasgow.
Both in the UK and in poorer developing countries, there is the same problem of producing more while having less of an impact, and to maintain living and nutritional standards the answer has to be new technology, greater efficiency, cleaner energy, and the use of sustainable materials and methods.
Global food security and climate change are two of the greatest challenges of this century, and I will continue ensure government makes progress here, as the outcome will touch us in York as surely as anywhere else in the world.”
