CFA supports Farmers Solutions to Climate Change declaration
On May 27th, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's Director of Environment Policy Greg Northey attended the Climate Change: Farmers Solutions conference in Copenhagen, Denmark along with Ron Maynard from Dairy Farmers of Canada, and Don McCabe, President of Soil Conservation Council of Canada.
"Although agriculture is a greenhouse gas emitter, there is tremendous potential for farmers to mitigate greenhouse gases as well. Agriculture represents approximately 10 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions," said McCabe. "If the proper rules and policies are put in place, agriculture can be 20 per cent of the solution."
The conference, hosted by the Danish Agricultural Council and the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), brought together speakers from the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank, the world meteorological organization, as well as government and farm groups from around the world to discuss climate change and agriculture's response.
The conference comes at an important time. In December 2009, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen to finalize a new climate change agreement that will replace the current Kyoto framework in 2012. The IFAP declaration Farmers solutions to Climate Change - proposals for including agriculture in the post-Kyoto agreement was presented to the Danish Minister of Environment during the conference. The declaration, drafted with CFA's help, outlines the mechanisms and rules that the new climate agreement should have to ensure agriculture is recognized for its positive contribution to climate change mitigation.
"Canada, particularly Alberta, has recognized that agriculture is a tremendous source of voluntary carbon offsets and have put the appropriate policies in place to utilize them," said Laurent Pellerin, CFA President. "Agricultural offsets provided 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the Alberta Carbon market in 2008, which gave $11 million dollars back to farmer."
"International agreements recognizing programs such as Alberta's use of agricultural offsets that also provide income to producers will help build resilient, productive, and sustainable agriculture systems," added Pellerin.
CFA will continue to work through organizations such as IFAP to ensure that the tremendous innovation and effort of Canadian farmers will be recognized as climate change solutions.
About the Canadian Federation of Agriculture
Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations, national and inter-provincial commodity organizations, and cooperatives from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.
For more information, please contact:
Laurent Pellerin
President
819-233-2568
Brigid Rivoire
Executive Director
613-715-3113 (cell)
brigid@cfafca.ca
Debbie Silva
Communications Coordinator
613-236-3633 ext. 2322
debbie@cfafca.ca
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