Tag Archive for: 4p1000

IFOAM – Organics International Joins “4 per 1000” Initiative: Soils for food security and climate

IFOAM – Organics International has joined the “4 per 1000” Initiative (link is external), which aims to improve the organic matter content and promote carbon sequestration in soils through the application of agricultural practices adapted to local situations both economically, environmentally and socially, such as agro-ecology, agroforestry, conservation agriculture and landscape management.

The official launch of the initiative took place 01 December 2015 at the COP21 Climate Conference with keynote speeches given by Tabaré  Aguerre,  Minister for livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay as well as Christian Schmidt, Minister for Food and Agriculture of Germany.

Both José Graziano Da Silva, Director-general of FAO and Stéphane  Le Foll, Minister for Agriculture, Food Processing Industry and Forestry of France agreed that farmers need more access to knowledge in order to farm successfully with better soil management practices.

Commenting on the event, Gábor Figeczky, Advocacy Manager at IFOAM – Organics International was pleased to note that Agroecology is at the heart of the “4 per 1000” Initiative. Read more about the initiative.

View the Original Article on IFOAM Organics International

March 9: Is Healthy Soil the Solution to Global Warming?

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What: National Press Club event with French Ministry of Agriculture to discuss soil carbon sequestration
When: Wednesday, March 9,  8 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Where: The Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club – 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20045

In December, at the COP21 Climate Summit in Paris, the French Ministry of Agriculture launched “4 per 1000: Soils for Food Security and Climate,” an initiative to mitigate, and eventually reverse, climate change by increasing soil carbon worldwide by 0.4% per year. So far, 26 countries and more than 50 organizations have formally signed on to the initiative.

Is healthy soil the solution to global warming? Is the 4 per 1000 initiative realistic?

On March 9, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, Director General for the Economic and Environmental Performance of Enterprises of the French Ministry of Agriculture, will join soil scientists and others to discuss the science behind soil carbon sequestration and how to drive the rapid, worldwide adoption of regenerative agriculture techniques that sequester carbon.

Regeneration International would like to invite you to join the conversation about this shovel-ready solution to global warming on March 9 at 8 a.m. at the National Press Club.

PLEASE REGISTER HERE
DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM HERE
SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE:

* Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, Director General for Economic and Environmental Performance of Enterprises, French Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry
* David C. Johnson, Ph.D., New Mexico State University
* Tim LaSalle, Ph.D., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
* Andre Leu, IFOAM – Organics International
* Kris Nichols, Ph.D., Rodale Institute
* Richard Teague, Ph.D., Texas A & M

MEDIA KIT

Press Release
Speaker Bios (PDF)

Soil-Climate Fact Sheet (PDF)
Media Advisory (PDF)
Program (PDF)

COP21 – Carbon Farming May Figure in Climate Mitigation

Author: Judith Schwartz

PARIS – Due to an initiative launched by France, there is now an international framework that for the first time brings agricultural soils into climate negotiations. Called “4 per 1000,” this new proposal aims to protect and increase carbon stocks in soil.

The initiative, signed this week by 25 countries including France, Germany, the UK, Mexico and Australia, as well as 75 research and NGO partners, is aimed at combatting climate change by recognizing the ability of soil to act as a sink for greenhouse-gas emissions. The US was not a signatory to the agreement, which occurred parallel to the main climate negotiations.

The “4 per 1000,” which refers to a voluntary pledge of a 0.4 percent annual growth rate in soil carbon content, “is a game-changer”, said Andre Leu, who signed on behalf of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). “I’ve been engaged with climate negotiations since Copenhagen, and until now we couldn’t even get the word agriculture in the agreements.”

Carbon is an important component of soil, representing 58 percent of organic matter. Through photosynthesis, a plant draws down atmospheric carbon to form carbon compounds, or sugars. Some of this is exuded through the roots to feed soil microorganisms. But when soil is exposed to the air, through tillage or the absence of plant cover, the carbon oxidizes to form CO2. The world’s cultivated soils have lost between 50 and 70 percent of their original carbon stores, according to Rattan Lal, director of Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center.

Keep Reading in FERN

Ronnie Cummins: A Message of Hope From Paris COP21

An interview with Ronnie Cummins International Director of the Organic Consumers Association and Regeneration International, from the 2015 UN World Climate Summit. Ronnie explains how consumers and farmers can unite to launch a global regeneration movement.

The French “4 per 1000” Initiative:

As of today, December 3, more than 50 national governments, activist organizations and stakeholder organizations (including the Organic Consumers Association and Mexico affiliate, Via Organica) have signed on to the French government’s “4 Per 1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate” declaration. The declaration emphasizes that agriculture, and agricultural soils in particular, can play a crucial role in reversing global warming and increasing global food security.

Based on a growing body of farming practices and scientific evidence, the French government’s Initiative invites all partners to declare or to implement practical programs for carbon sequestration in soil and for the types of farming methods used to promote it (e.g. agroecology, agroforestry, conservation agriculture and landscape management).

According to Andre Leu, president of IFOAM Organics International, the French Initiative on sequestering atmospheric carbon in soils via regenerative ag practices is “historic, marking the first time that international climate negotiators and stakeholders have recognized the strategic imperative of transforming and regenerating our global food and farming system in order to reverse global warming.”

Learn More and Join the Movement

Carbon Farming Gets A Nod At Paris Climate Conference

Author: Alastair Bland

This week, world leaders are hashing out a binding agreement in Paris at the 2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. And for the first time, they’ve made the capture of carbon in soil a formal part of the global response to the climate crisis.

“This is a game changer because soil carbon is now central to how the world manages climate change. I am stunned,” says André Leu, president of IFOAM — Organics International, an organization that promotes organic agriculture and carbon farming worldwide.

Leu is referring to the United Nations Lima-Paris Action Agenda, a sort of side deal aimed at “robust global action towards low carbon and resilient societies.” On Dec. 1, countries, businesses and NGOs signed on to a series of new commitments under the agenda, including several on agriculture.

Currently, the Earth’s atmosphere contains about 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Eric Toensmeier, a lecturer at Yale and the author of The Carbon Farming Solution, a book due out in February, says the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide levels must be cut to 350 parts per million or lower to curb climate change.

Toensmeier and Leu are among a growing number of environmental advocates who say one of the best opportunities for drawing carbon back to Earth is for farmers and other land managers to try to sequester more carbon in the soil.

Keep Reading on NPR