SOIL4CLIMATE AT COP27: REGENERATIVE GRAZING IS A CLIMATE MITIGATION SOLUTION

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MEDIA CONTACT: jennifer.witherspoon@soil4climate.org WhatsApp: +1386-624-3044

SOIL4CLIMATE AT COP27: REGENERATIVE GRAZING IS A CLIMATE MITIGATION SOLUTION

Sharm El Sheikh, EGYPT (November 12, 2022) – Soil4Climate’s Co-founder and Co-director, Seth Itzkan, is attending Blue Zone sessions at COP27 this week and is available to journalists for comment about why regenerative grazing holds promise for climate mitigation while also enhancing food security for pastoral communities, such as the Maasai in East Africa. 

Soils are a major carbon reservoir, storing more carbon than all of the world’s forests and atmosphere combined. Increasing carbon stocks in the top meter of the soil by one percent would capture more carbon than the total annual global emissions from burning fossil fuels, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN Issues Brief, November 2015).  

“Soils are the 8th Wonder of the World,” said Seth Itzkan. “Regenerative grazing is probably our principal tool for building healthy soil, restoring the world’s grasslands, and reversing desertification.” 

“Combined with agroforestry, organic cropping, and other ecologically appropriate food systems,” Itzkan continued, “we can feed the world while restoring degraded lands and helping to mitigate climate change. Regenerative grazing does that.”

As an indication of regenerative grazing’s potential, recent peer-reviewed papers on it are reporting drawdown rates of 2.1 to 3.5 metric tons of carbon per hectare per year, which equates to between 7.7 and 13.8 metric tons of carbon dioxide. “That’s knowledge every COP27 delegate concerned with agriculture should have,” states Itzkan.  

“Grasslands have acted as a thermostat of the climate over tens of millions of years,” says Soil4Climate Co-Director Seth Itzkan. “They have an extraordinary ability to regulate carbon flows between the atmosphere and the soil. By tying into this dynamic, regenerative farmers and ranchers can feed the world while becoming heroes of the climate.”  

Mr. Itzkan is also available to discuss the work of Soil4Climate to support regenerative grazing on Maasai lands in East Africa. The funds enable training in regenerative grazing and emergency funds for hay to feed their cattle in climate-induced and prolonged droughts.

Soil4Climate works with Maasai herders who are practicing regenerative grazing - moving animals in a way that restores damaged landscapes, sequestering carbon, and improving the soil. In 2017, Soil4Climate and the Maasai Center for regenerative pastoralism launched an initiative: the Maasai Lands Restoration Project to improve degraded soils on Maasai lands in Kenya. The venture aims to provide permanent solutions to the challenges of drought, desertification, and food and water security. 
 
As the Head of the Agriculture and Food Security Division at the African Union Commission Simplice Noula wrote in a recent opinion article, the ‘elephant in the room’ at the ‘African COP’ is that the “Global North perceptions of the livestock sector should not be imposed on poor countries that suffer from undernutrition.“ He says, “As counterintuitive as it might seem at a first glance to people living in the “Global North,” there is a strong case to invest more in sustainable livestock systems across the developing world as a matter of climate justice.” 
 
Mr. Noula explains in his article that managing sustainable livestock production is climate justice because: 

• livestock is a reliable source of income for Africa’s farmers including marginalized groups like women, who often are not allowed or are unable to own other assets easily. 
• livestock offer a valuable safety net in rural communities when crop harvests fail. 
• livestock provide vital and sustainable assistance in all aspects of farm management including pulling plows, eating leftover crop residue, and converting residues into valuable manure - often when other fertilizers are not available or prohibitively expensive. 
• livestock play an important role in managing rangelands sustainably. 
• perhaps most importantly, livestock provides an accessible and high-quality source of nutrition for those who do not have the privilege of other food choices and struggle disproportionately with undernutrition rather than excess (as is often the case in the Global North).

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To reach Seth Itzkan of Soil4Climate for comment, please contact Jennifer Witherspoon at +1386-624-3044 on WhatsApp or by email at jennifer.witherspoon@soil4climate.org

Soil4Climate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization that advocates for soil restoration as a climate solution. We promote regenerative land management practices to capture atmospheric carbon and encourage collaboration with the larger body of climate activism. Uniting “drawdown” strategies with emissions reduction, divestment from fossil fuels, a price on carbon, and climate justice advocacy, together create a powerful alliance. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.