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Country Land and Business Association

Climate Change

Climate Change

Land managers are literally on the front-line of climate change and are having to adapt already to changes in weather patterns. Earlier sowing and longer growing seasons, the need for increased water storage for droughtier summers coupled with problems caused by increased winter flooding in some areas, are some of the changes land managers are having to face. The CLA accepts climate change as a challenge and an opportunity for rural businesses.

LATEST NEWS 

September 2009

 

CLA/ELO policy statement for UNFCCC, COP 15 Copenhagen

 

At the beginning of August the CLA President wrote to the Rt Honourable Hillary Benn MP outlining some key points from our policy statement that we would like to see taken forward at the Climate Change talks in Copenhagen this December.

 

The policy statement is intended to capture the current challenges and opportunities faced by land managers here in the UK and in Europe, as well as highlight that the global pressures of climate change need a level playing field. It explains, amongst other things, the impact on crops, water resources, livestock and forestry.

 

The CLA recognises the threat of uncontrolled global climate change to its core food production and environmental care roles and is in favour of collective action to reduce Green House Gas emissions.  Following the recent G8 statement, there is now a need to agree a new series of commitment periods reaching to 2050 to achieve stabilisation, with a robust mid-term target.

 

Nevertheless, the CLA is concerned that in its eagerness to be in the lead on climate change Government should not export UK agricultural emissions by imposing unachievable reduction targets for nitrous oxide and methane.

 

The CLA is concerned that the rate at which northern latitudes are warming suggests that they are likely to experience twice the mean rate of global temperature increase, with major implications for impacts and adaptation and associated costs.

 

At the same time, the CLA urges the need to optimise the contribution of land management to mitigation though managing carbon stocks and provision of renewables. This should mean the inclusion of Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry in the commitments of developed countries, and an agreement on Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation.

 

A copy of the policy statement made by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and its partner, the European Landowners’ Organisation (ELO), for UNFCCC, COP 15 at Copenhagen can be down loaded here.

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We were the first land-based organisation to look at climate change from a land management perspective and in 2001 published a ground-breaking report – Climate Change and the Rural Economy which identified how climate change would impact on rural businesses, what the adaptation and mitigation options were for these businesses and what policy changes were required to move these options forward. This document became the catalyst for setting up the Defra High Level Rural Climate Change Forum in 2003 which is chaired by the Environment Minister, Ian Pearson and attended by the CLA president and other farmer and environmental organisations. The High-Level Forum meets quarterly to discuss and move rural climate change issues forward by identifying, proposing and promoting practical actions and policy options including the uptake of research findings.

Following the 2001 report the CLA has been part of further work investigating the climate change impacts on rural land estates in Europe – in a report "Climate Change and the European Countryside 2006" or "CLIO Report" which was also used to test the application of an on-farm greenhouse gas audit, or CALM (Carbon Accounting for Land Managers) tool.

CALM has been further developed with Savills and funding from East of England Development Agency and others and was published on the CLA website in March 08. It is a web-based calculator to help land managers work out the balance of greenhouse gases emitted by their farming business, and carbon stored in their trees and soil.
 
CALM has been acknowledged by many of those involved in climate change policy and research work as an innovative and far-reaching piece of work which has helped to move the understanding of greenhouse gas emissions and land management further forward.
 

We are involved in a number of industry groups covering communication of climate change awareness to land managers and taking a closer look at mitigation options.

1.       The Climate Change Communication Project is funded by Defra, with Forum for the Future, NFU, and Applied Research Forum (representing the seven levy boards). The aim of the project is to raise awareness of climate change to farmers and to do this we have produced 14 Fact Sheets on climate change, such as What is Climate Change and How WILL it affect Agriculture and Climate Change: Focus on Diary. There are also six Case Studies of farmers highlighting how they are adapting to climate change – e.g. by changing soil management on the farm to using renewable energy to heat a plant nursery business. This and other information can be found at www.farmingfutures.org.uk, and we highly recommend a look.
 
2.       The Industry High-Level Climate Change Task Force, launched in January 2007, is a joint initiative between the CLA, NFU and AIC to take a closer look at greenhouse gas mitigation options for land management businesses, including agriculture and forestry.  A report by the Task Force "Part of the Solution: climate change, agriculture and land management" was launched in December 2007 to present a united stance against the serious threat that climate change poses to agricultural production and the rural sector. By working together, we demonstrate here how our sector offers part of the solution to a major public problem.

CLA is very active on renewable energy – more information on the Renewable Energy page

News

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th assessment report published - link http://www.ipcc.ch/WG1_SPM_17Apr07.pdf

The draft Climate Change Bill was published in March 07. Essentially, it is proposing that a statutory target be set for the Government to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050 by moving to a low-carbon economy.

To do this the draft Bill proposes:

  • Establishing a credible emissions pathway to 2050, starting with five-year budgetary periods, the first three of which run to 2022, beginning with the first commitment period agreed at Kyoto (2008-2012).
  • Establishing a new independent body, the Committee on Climate Change, to work with the Government on how to reduce emissions over time and across economies
  • Powers to provide additional means with which to achieve emissions reductions (taxes, regulation and trading)
  • A clear accountability framework, in particular in relation to Government’s reporting to Parliament on mitigation and adaptation. CLA's response to the Climate Change Bill can be found here

Consultations

Voluntary Code on Carbon offsetting

Climate change and planning