Farming plays key role in climate change.

• Position: Good and Bad - United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report

Farming is pivotal in climate change, both as one of the sources of the problem and as a recipient of its impacts, according to a study published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAQ) in its annual report, The State of Food and Agriculture", which includes a review of the current global and regional agricultural situation, world trade, commodity prices and the implications for agriculture of the fourth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference.

In the special chapter on harvesting carbon sequestration through land-use change, FAQ states that an estimated 80 per cent of global carbon stocks are stored in soils or forests, and that a considerable amount of the mineral originally contained in those areas has been released as a result of agricultural and forestry activities and deforestation. Agriculture and forestry practices confine and fix carbon into the soil, plants and trees through photosynthesis, reducing atmospheric greenhouse gases. According to the report, farming and forestry activities have the potential to counteract the effect of emissions made elsewhere by reducing deforestation, generating increased forest stocks, adopting agroforestry schemes, reducing soil degradation and rehabilitating degraded forests.

A separate section examining the role of agriculture and land in the provision of global public goods reports that farming, fisheries and forestry have importance beyond that of providing the world with food and raw materials necessary for survival and well-being, and ensuring the livelihoods of farmers, fishermen and foresters worldwide. People employed in these sectors of the economy play a role in managing resources that benefit the world at large. "Through proper management of these resources, farmers, fishermen and foresters provide a range of benefits to others, such as landscape conservation, watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem stability and maintenance of fish stocks", the report states.

While these public goods are widely recognized as...