ProVeg to tell UN biodiversity summit how plant-based food can save many species
Brown Spider Monkey (Image credit: Gabriel Bonfa. Adobe Stock)
Plant-based diets don’t just spare cows and pigs. There’s the Buffy-headed Marmoset and the Brown Spider Monkey too!
The effect of Amazonian deforestation caused by animal agriculture will be highlighted by food awareness organization, ProVeg International, at COP16, the meeting of the UN Conference on Biological Diversity, which is being held in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November.
“Eating plant-based diets will not just spare a cow or a pig, but wild animals too,” Juliette Tronchon, Head of UN Affairs at ProVeg International, said.
“Animal agriculture is responsible for about 70% of Amazonian deforestation. Land is cleared for cattle grazing and for the growing of feed crops for cattle. The impact of that intervention on biodiversity is huge.
“Animals like the Buffy-headed Marmoset and the Brown Spider Monkey are declining because of the loss of habitat caused by our growing demand for meat. ProVeg will be telling the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP16 how a shift to more plant-based diets can help bring a halt to tropical deforestation and the decline of amazing animals like the tapir and the marmoset,” Tronchon added.
Proveg will have a team, which includes members of the ProVeg Youth Board, on the ground at COP16 to also highlight how a shift to more plant-based diets offers benefits beyond stemming habitat loss.
“Eating less meat is vital, particularly for wealthy countries, to reduce the destructive impact on the biodiversity we find in the rainforest. But it also helps us tackle the climate crisis,” Tronchon said.
“Plant-based foods emit half as much greenhouse gasses as animal-based foods, so shifting to a more plant-based diet is one of the most effective actions an individual can take to tackle climate change,” Tronchon added.
Buffy-headed Marmoset (Image credit: Amani A. Adobe Stock)
How animal agriculture impacts biodiversity
Nearly 70% of deforested lands in South America, including regions such as the Amazon, the largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world, along with Cerrado savanna in Brazil and Gran Chaco, is used as cattle pasture.1
Globally, 41% of tropical deforestation is driven by beef production2 and 50% can be attributed to the expansion of cropland, large parts of which are used for the production of feed crops for animals products from chickens and pigs.
According to an article published in Nature Sustainability, about 88% of the assessed 20,000 terrestrial vertebrate species will lose habitat by 2050 if agricultural expansion and diets continue as they do now. Out of those, 1.300 will lose at least 25% of their habitat. This could be reduced by 97% with diets in line with the Planetary Health Diet.
“Food system change must be the leading strategy to stop the deforestation of the Amazon,” Lana Weidgenant, Senior UN Policy Manager at ProVeg, said.
“We really hope to get this message across at the biodiversity summit in Colombia in a way that inspires countries to take concrete action and introduce policies that will save our precious wildlife,” Weidgenant added.
For more scientific data about the impact of animal agriculture on biodiversity and the benefits of plant-based eating, see our Food System Data website. An interview between ProVeg and ecologist David Tilman on the importance of preserving biodiversity can be found here.
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Footnotes
- FAO (2022): FRA 2020 Remote Sensing Survey. FAO Forestry Paper No. 186. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9970en
- Pendrill, F., U. M. Persson, J. Godar, et al. (2019): Agricultural and forestry trade drives large share of tropical deforestation emissions. Global Environmental Change 56 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.03.002
Notes to Editors
For media inquiries, email Peter Rixon at [email protected]
About ProVeg International
Our vision is a world where everyone chooses delicious and healthy food that is good for all humans, animals, and our planet. ProVeg International is a food awareness organization with the mission to replace 50% of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040
