TAD NewsDesk, New Delhi: The most important concern above everything else today is the eco-centric outlook. The food we consume is in an ardent need for scrutiny. The products which are seemingly harmful to health has repercussions much beyond that. The readily available and harmful food like red meat and sugar also has serious consequences on the environment.
The countries are working on their drafts before submitting the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement in 2021. A report suggests that the adding of food processes to national climate plans can help reduce global emissions by 20%.
Shifts in food habits are hard to make in any country. It changed for the tribal population of India when wheat and rice was distributed through the public distribution system. This was a very slow and hard change.
A recent report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) suggests that along with many other advantages, shifting to a plant based diet will also help reduce the loss of biodiversity at a global level.
The WWF has warned India because a drastic change in food habits will lead to a more tremendous loss of biodiversity. The people of the country first needs to increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables and dairy based products.
If the lands are cleared for large scale agricultural production then it would lead to more diversity loss. To avoid this situation, the biodiversity rich countries like India should not solely depend on its own production and import certain products from the less biodiverse nations.
But this would be against everything India has stood for since independence. It has continuously tried to achieve self-sufficiency in food.
This would also mean a loss of traditional and local foods. The question would transcend from biodiversity to a loss of part of ethnicity too. Some local diets also depend on tree borne food which is perennial in nature.
Hence, when India shifts to a climate friendly diet, both the positives and negatives will have to be balanced and a well equipped solution have to be sought so as not to have a tremendous loss of biodiversity.
