(RepublicanReport.org) – The United Nations (UN) established the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in late 1945 to lead that intergovernmental group’s efforts to defeat hunger by improving food security and access to proper nutrition. Recent reports indicated the FAO combined its long-standing mission with the UN’s plans to address climate change, including measures that — if heeded — would call on Americans to reduce their annual meat consumption. Here’s what we know about the situation.
The UN launched its 28th annual Climate Change Conference (COP28) on November 30. Promoted the gathering as a “landmark event,” the FAO announced its plans to unveil the group’s first-ever plan to urge the world’s agrifood industry to make changes to help meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering the world’s average temperature by 2031.
The FOA’s so-called “Global Roadmap” reportedly contains recommendations to facilitate that process impacting developed countries like the United States. For instance, the plan urges them to dramatically reduce their consumption of animal-based foods over the next few years.
The roadmap’s recommendations are non-binding on United Nations member states. However, the FAO plans to present a series of memorandums of understanding to obtain an informal commitment from world leaders to make an effort to comply with the organization’s new guidance.
As expected, the idea has received a less-than-enthusiastic reception from some GOP lawmakers. For instance, Fox News recently published an article discussing a statement submitted to its digital office from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA). He described the nation’s ranchers and farmers as America’s “climate heroes.”
The country’s agricultural sector only contributes roughly 1.4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions due to recent changes within the industry. Additionally, American ranchers and farmers have implemented what Fox News describes as “a wide range of solutions” to global warming, making it the country’s “lowest emitting” group within the country’s industrial sector.
Thompson also warned that adding additional regulatory burdens on farmers and ranchers could force them out of business. That would lead to a mass increase in global meat exports by “foreign countries” led by “hostile regimes.”
The conservative lawmaker concluded his remarks by pointing out that the world needs American agricultural interests more than it needs the United Nations.
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