Not including agriculture in efforts to tackle climate change will make it very difficult to keep global warming within the agreed 2°C limit, new research says.
Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
103 of the 195 countries that agreed to the limit at the Paris summit last year have pledged to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
A global team of scientists estimates agricultural emissions should be reduced by about one billion tonnes annually, by 2030, to help achieve the goal set in Paris.
Their paper, Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2°C target, argues that current interventions will only deliver up to 40 percent of what's required.
One of the authors, New Zealander Andy Reisinger, said while more than 100 countries have said they want to reduce agricultural emissions, few have a clear plan of how to do it.
He said a more coordinated effort between national and global institutions was needed to make progress.