Chemical Fertilizer Use Linked to Climate Change

Greenpeace calls for fertilizer reduction policies

Manila, 24 Jan 2008–The use of chemical fertilizers is a significant
source of greenhouse gas emissions and contributes greatly to climate
change, Greenpeace said today during the Philippine launch of the report
Cool Farming: Climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential.

The report is the second to be released by Greenpeace to reveal how the
unbridled use of chemical farm inputs pose harm to people and the
environment. Last November 2007, the environment group presented
evidence that drinking water in key agricultural areas in the
Philippines and Thailand was already contaminated by toxic pollution
from nitrate fertilizers.

“The environmental impact of chemical-dependent farming has reached
critical levels. Greenpeace has shown that farm chemicals work against
nature and create more problems than solutions. This is a call for our
government to support a future of farming that is sustainable,” said
Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Daniel Ocampo.

Cool Farming, written for Greenpeace by Professor Pete Smith from
University of Aberdeen, a lead author on the latest Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, is the first to detail both the
direct and indirect effects farming has on climate change. The report
outlines how agriculture is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas
emissions and recommends urgent changes if it is to be transformed from
a key contributor to climate change into a carbon sink, or reservoir
that absorbs, rather than creates, greenhouse gas emissions.

The report describes how energy- and chemical-intensive farming has led
to increased levels of greenhouse gas emissions, primarily as a result
of the overuse of fertilizers, land clearance, soil degradation, and
intensive animal farming. The total global contribution of agriculture
to climate change, including deforestation for farmland and other land
use changes, is estimated to be equivalent to between 8.5 -16.5 billion
tons of carbon dioxide or between 17- 32% of all human-induced
greenhouse gas emissions.

Fertilizer overuse is responsible for the highest single share of
agriculture’s direct greenhouse gas emissions, currently equal to some
2.1 billion tons of CO2 annually. Excess fertilizer results in the
emission of climate change-causing gas nitrous oxide (N2O), which is
some 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

“The saturation bombing of farmland with fertilizers can and must be
stopped. As a start, the government must phase out chemical fertilizer
subsidies and implement fertilizer reduction policies ensuring that
farmers use less fertilizer with more precision,” said Ocampo.
“Governments must stop supporting environmentally destructive practices
in agriculture, and focus instead on assisting farmers in converting to
ecological and sustainable farming systems.”

Cool Farming details a variety of practical, easy to implement solutions
which can reduce climate change, including reducing fertilizer use,
protecting the soil, improving rice production and cutting demand for
meat, especially in developed countries. The report can be downloaded
at: http://greenpeace.org.ph/cool-farming.

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organization that acts
to change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the
environment, and to promote peace

For more information:
Daniel Ocampo, GE Campaigner, +63 917 897 6416, daniel.ocampo@greenpeace.org
Lea Guerrero, Media Campaigner, +63 920 950 6877, +63 2 434 7034 loc
121, lea.guerrero@greenpeace.org

Note to editors:
Professor Pete Smith was a coordinating lead author of ‘Mitigation of
Climate Change’, Chapter 8 (Agriculture), by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group III, online at
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg3.htm

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