Scientist to politicians: End oil, farm subsidies to save planet

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAY 6, 2019 / 2:11 PM / UPDATED 15 HOURS AGO

Scientist to politicians: End oil, farm subsidies to save planet

Matthew Green
4 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Robert Watson chose his favorite accessories to deliver the scientific community’s starkest warning yet over the accelerating demise of Earth’s life support systems: a tie with a dodo pattern, and cufflinks engraved with designs of tiny watches.

A leading figure in the network of international experts who assess the twin threats posed by climate change and species loss, Watson uses the symbols to remind audiences that there is no special reason why human beings should not share the fate of the flightless bird, declared extinct at the end of the 17th century.

But the British environmental scientist is not always so subtle.

Hours before the launch in Paris on Monday of the largest scientific effort to document the spiraling worldwide loss of plants and animals, Watson urged governments to cut hundreds of billions of dollars of annual subsidies to companies in the farming, mining, fishing and fossil fuel sectors, whose operations are driving the extinction crisis.

“We need to reduce and eliminate harmful subsidies,” said Watson, who served as chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a 130-nation scientific body, as it produced the report.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-environment-biodiversity-scientist/scientist-to-politicians-end-oil-farm-subsidies-to-save-planet-idUSKCN1SC1TI

[The_jackalope]

1. It's more acceptable than saying "End oil use and farming."

Which is what really needs to happen.

Stick a fork in us, we're done.