Ireland needs a “food revolution” to deliver a radical change in dietary habits that will “protect public health and the environment”, a lobby group has said today (Tuesday, May 16).
According to a new paper – Fixing Food Together – published by the Climate and Health Alliance at a conference in Dublin today, Ireland’s farming industry needs to be a “key part of the solution”.
Tim Collins, chief executive of the Irish Heart Foundation and one of the Climate and Health Alliance’s founding members, said current eating habits in Ireland are like a “slow-motion disaster unfolding before our eyes”.
“The global food system we have created can feed the world but has also made us heavier and sicker; it destroys wildlife, pollutes our rivers and air and produces a third of our greenhouse gas emissions.
“In Ireland, we now have a disturbing overconsumption-undernutrition paradox,” Collins said.
The Climate and Health Alliance is made up 17 members from a number of public health organisations and advocacy groups.
Its key objective is to “highlight the enormous public health harms that arise from climate change while emphasising the significant health benefits that can be unlocked by tackling global warming“.
It states in the position paper released today that “food systems must work with nature and should not contribute to further degradation of ecosystems and biodiversity collapse”.
The alliance has called on the government to establish a special cabinet sub-committee “to oversee a food revolution – and the farming industry to be a key part of the solution”.
It also recommends six key areas where it believes “Ireland needs to drive change” to create a healthier, more sustainable Irish food system.
Specifically in relation to Area 5, it referenced recent reports from both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Teagasc and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
The Climate and Health Alliance stated in its paper that “the huge land requirement to produce protein with cattle prevents carbon removal through reforesting and restoring Ireland’s main native ecosystem, temperate rainforest”.
The alliance highlighted that the agriculture sector is “being tasked with changing the way it uses land so that it does more than just produce food”.
“We need to ensure that our farmers who play a pivotal role in this transition are adequately supported to help sequester carbon and restore biodiversity and nature.
“Our two greatest challenges in land use are how we use Irish land and how we pay Irish farmers,” the alliance said.
According to the Climate and Health Alliance it is “essential” that farmers are supported to produce food in a way that “protects, conserves and restores nature”.
Separately, the alliance said the publication of its new paper also coincides with new research commissioned by the Irish Heart Foundation.
The research, carried out by Ipsos, suggests that one in five people “understand how large an impact reducing our intake of red and processed meat or ultra-processed foods will have on lowering greenhouse gases”.
It also showed that 64% of people surveyed believe the government “is not providing enough funding or support to farmers to encourage climate-change practices”.