Konference How can Europe use land more sustainably?

Place: Støberiet, Blågårds Plads 5, 2200 København N.

Time: 2nd of December 2016, 13-16.30

*In English Below*

The event is now  closed for registration. 

Europas landfodaftryk er halvanden gang større end hele regionens areal. Det er hvad der påkræves til at forsyne os med alt vi forbruger – fra fødevarer til materielle produkter og brændstoffer.

Kom og hør internationale eksperter holde oplæg om Europas globale landfodaftryk og hvordan man kan skabe mere bæredygtige forbrugsmønstre og praksisser for landanvendelse samt strukturere fødevareproduktionen anderledes i Europa, så ressourceforbruget og presset på land mindskes. Konferencen vil også belyse, hvordan handels- og finanssystemet påvirker det globale fødevare- og råvaremarked og hvilke politikker der skaber øget pres på verdens ressourcer og øger efterspørgslen på råvarer samt identificere forslag til anderledes politikker.

Hvornår: Den 2. december 2016 kl. 13-16.30

Hvor: København – sted følger snart

The event is now  closed for registration. Please register for the waiting list.

Arrangementet er gratis at deltage i, men tilmelding er nødvendig. Fristen for tilmelding er tirsdag d. 29. november kl. 10.

Arrangementet vi foregå på engelsk.

Program

13.00-13.05 – Velkomst og introduktion til dagen

13.05-13.35 – Europas landfodaftryk og tiltag til et bæredygtigt forbrug og retfærdig ressourceanvendelse

Liesbeth De Schutter, økologisk økonom ved Wiens Universitet og en af forfatterne bag Friends of the Earths nyligt udgivne rapport: ”The true cost of consumption: the EU’s land footprint”, der snart udkommer på dansk.

13.35-14.10 – Land som ressource: EU-politikkers direkte og indirekte konsekvenser på land – og politiske tiltag til at gøre Europas økonomi grønnere

Andrus Meiner, Head of Group on Land systems, European Environmental Agency

14.10-14.30 – Pause – te og kaffe

14.30- 15.10 – En grønnere fælleseuropæisk landbrugspolitik: hvordan kan agroøkologi og fødevaresuverænitet skabe løsninger?

Adrian Bebb, kampagnemedarbejder ved Friends of the Earth Europes Fødevare-, Landbrugs- og Biodiversitetsprogram

15.10-15.50 – Handels- og finanssektorernes indflydelse på globale fødevare-forsyningskæder og hvorledes EU kan påvirke markederne til at promovere bæredygtighed

Myriam Vander Stichele, seniorforsker ved The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), the Netherlands

15.50-16.25 – Paneldiskussion og spørgsmål fra salen

16.25-16.30 – Tak for i dag

Background

Europe’s demand for ressources is much larger than the available land within the region and it’s global land footprint is increasing, creating growing environmental and social impacts outside the region. Together with increased intensity on the used land it effects the planetary boundaries: several have been or are in increasing risk of being crossed and the world faces the greatest mass extinction since the death of the dinosaures.

Studies show that by 2020, the populations of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and other vertebrate species are on course to have fallen by more than two-thirds over a period of just 50 year. Hence, it is necessary that European decision makers to a larger extent focus on a transition of the production and consumption systems that can reduce the consumption level, ensure use of products that require less land and promote different land management that reduce the impacts of land use.

As part of greening Europe’s economy policy makers must consider what policies directly and indirectly promote increasing pressure on land within the EU and globally especially the Global south.

Since land ownership is increasingly centralised among fewer and larger companies and the size of consumption is by far the largest in the rich part of the world the issue of inequality has to be tackled when finding global solutions. Hence, this conference will also touch upon how financialisation and trade policies increasingly promote land concentration and how large scale land use practices create increasing pressurre on land.

The UN’s international ressource panel (UNEP) has identified changes in land use as the most important driver of changes in the world’s land areas and loss of natural resources. Increasing pressure on land creates land degradation, cropland expansion into natural land areas, deforestation, biodiversity loss, land grabbing, unequal appropriation of land resources and water pollution, and has serious impacts on the climate.

This indicates that fundamental changes are necessary in order to tackle the interlocked problems and henceforth this conference focus on recommendations for system changes that can create necessary pathways for sustainability. After each presentation and for the panel discussion the participants can ask direct questions to the speakers.

Programme description

13.00-13.05 – Welcome and introduction

13.05-13.35 – Europes landfootprint and measures for sustainable consumption and equitable resource use

– Liesbeth De Schutter, ecological economist at Vienna University of Economics and Business, one of the authors of Friends of the Earth’s recent released report ”The true cost of consumption: the EU’s land footprint”.

Liesbeth de Schutter will explain how global land flow accounting can be used to track a population’s land use and hence indicate how to decrease Europe’s land footprint per capita. The land footprint is a valuable tool to measure resource use that can help guiding consumption patterns to a more equitable resource use and – potentially – monitor environmental impacts related to land use. So far it is only possible to calculate the land footprint for agricultural land. Liesbeth de Schutter will explain how the land footprint relates to different impacts and that intensified land use practices influencing different ecological cycles such as biodiversity, waterflow and biochemical flows. Hence, besides recommending halting expansion of agriculture into natural areas it is shown how changes in consumption patterns can reduce the demand for land and related impacts on our common environment.

13.35-14.10 – Land as a resource – European and global challenges and solutions

– Andrus Meiner, Head of Group on Land systems, European Environmental Agency

The direct and indirect impacts of EU policies on land

Andrus Meiner will cover inter-related social and environmental impacts of different EU policies as well as policy objectives addressing land take and land degradation, and their challenges thereof. The presentation will refer to place-/ecosystem-based management and will explain how a global systemic transition of the food system is necessary, recognising the benefits of local / regional approaches (re. EEA’s report “The direct and indirect impacts of EU policies on land” and Food system reports).

Greening the Common agricultural policy and the economy

The European Commission has proposed a number of ‘greening measures’ for agriculture, but the EEA has reached the conclusion that these measures do not sufficiently address the issue of resource efficiency of the European agriculture or the contributions to maintaining natural capital and related environmental assets. The EEA studies a transition towards innovative low-input production systems (employing e.g. organic and precision farming techniques) and different consumption/production patterns. Andrus Meiner will touch upon how resource efficiency measures and recommendations for sustainable land management and specific policy measures can help this transition, among others how the cities and infrastructure are not only creating the problems, but can be part of the solutions (e.g. green infrastructure, high-nature value farmland, urban fringes development).

14.10-14.30 – Break – tea and coffee

14.30- 15.10 – Greening the Common Agricultural Policy – how can food agroecology and sovereignty be solutions? 

Adrian Bebb, campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe’s Food, Agriculture and Biodiversity Programme

Adrian Bebb will provide some answers to the following: Why does the EU agricultural policy in its current form have negative consequences for the environment, small scale farmers and the health of citizens in Europe? And why does the production and consumption systems need to change, and food sovereignty need to play a bigger role? How can the transition to a sustainable food system accelerate? Adrian Bebb will explain how we can reform the EU common agricultural policy (CAP) so it promotes local sustainability in Europe as well as outside of Europe. The presentation will explain how large scale land use practices create increasing pressure on land and ecosystems, and how local food sovereignty and small-scale farming practices of agroecology can provide solutions.

In this regard it is necessary to consider different policies simultaneously and look into new support schemes as well as forms of organising production and distribution.

15.10-15.50 – The influence of trade and finance on the food supply chain and how the EU and international institutions can shape the markets to promote sustainability

Myriam Vander Stichele, senior researcher at The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), Holland.

Myriam Vander Stichele will explain how global financialisation of land, food and commodities takes place and why financial speculation in food and land is problematic for consumers and small-scale farmers. Financialization of the food supply chain challenges the key function of the agrifood sector—to provide nutritious food to as many people as possible in an environmentally and socially sustainable way. The presentation will give an overview of the major problems with trade induced and financial liberalization of the global food markets. In this regard Myriam Vander Stichele will explain what is the role of international trade agreements with regard to financialization of food and land and recommend how policy makers can promote solutions by regulating trade and finance in Europe and through international institutions. Moreover, lack of transparency and regulation in financial investments makes it difficult for policy makers to avoid food bubbles and unethical investments.

Finally, it will be considered what are the major challenges to regulate the financial and trade systems and the role of the financial and big business lobby.

15.50-16.25 – Panel discussion

16.25-16.30 – Thank you for participating

Europe’s land footprint is 1.5 times the size of the entire region itself. This is the land required to make everything that we consume, from food to material products to fuel.

Join this conference and listen to international experts explaining what is Europes global landfootprint all about, how to create more sustainable consumption patterns and practices for land use as well as how to structure the food production differently in Europe in order to reduce the ressource consumption and pressure on land. The conference will also put light on how the trade and finance systems as well as policies create increased pressure on the worlds ressources and augment the demand for commodities. Finally the speakers will provide recommendations for future initiatives.

When: The 2nd of December 2016, 1 pm. – 4.30 pm.

Where: Støberiet, Blågaards Plads 5, 2200 København N

The conference is free, but registration is neccessary. Enrollment no later than the 29th of November. A short and a detailed programme description follows the enrollment formular:

Programme

13.00-13.05 – Welcome and introduction

13.05-13.35 – Europes landfootprint and measures for sustainable consumption and equitable ressource use 

Liesbeth De Schutter, ecological economist at University of Vienna.

13.35-14.10 – Land as a ressource: The direct and indirect impacts of EU policies on land – and policy measures for greening the European economy

Andrus Meiner, Head of Group on Land systems, European Environmental Agency.

14.10-14.30 – Break – tea and coffee

14.30- 15.10 – Greening the Common Agricultural Policy – how can agroecology and food sovereignty solutions?

Adrian Bebb, campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe’s Food, Agriculture and Biodiversity Programme

15.10-15.50 – The influence of trade and finance on the global food supply chain and how the EU can shape the markets to promote sustainability

Myrian Vander Stichele, seniorresearcher at The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), the Netherlands

15.50-16.25 – Panel discussion and questions from participants

16.25-16.30 – Thank you for participating

The event is supported by: