Organiser's description (via the Centre for Food Policy):
The International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG) and Centre for Food Policy have organised a panel examining the role of international law in governing livestock emissions and shaping sustainable food systems in the context of the global climate crisis.
Dr Rebecca Williams will present her book Climate Change, Cattle, and the International Legal Order (Hart Bloomsbury, 2024) with expert commentary from Dr Rebecca Wells and Dr Christian Reynolds from the perspective of food policy.
Overview
Livestock food systems need to be rapidly rethought to tackle the global climate crisis. This presentation examines how climate concerns for the livestock sector are governed in international law and addresses the sector's inclusion (or lack thereof) across the international governance of climate change, agriculture, forests and trade.
This provides a wide-ranging analysis of legal regimes at the international level that affect emissions from cattle (and where relevant, livestock more broadly). On this basis, tensions, interactions, and common themes for livestock emissions mitigation across the international climate change, forestry, agricultural and agri-trade regime are identified. This showcases where productive synergies and damaging tensions have emerged across the cross-cutting nature of livestock governance, enabling goals of fairer and more effective emissions mitigation for the sector to be achieved. In addition to addressing issues such as food security and public health, this highlights the problem of affluence in reducing cattle emissions from meat consumption. This key insight is significant in terms of tackling future livestock emissions trajectories, particularly in relation to securing climate justice within the agricultural sector and securing equitable and effective livestock solutions.
Speakers
Dr Rebecca Williams is a lecturer in environmental law at the University of Glasgow. Her research interests include the intersection of the agricultural sector and environmental law and governance, particularly with respect to climate change, forests, nitrates management, trade, public health, food security and climate justice. Dr Williams is the author of Climate Change, Cattle, and the International Legal Order (Hart Bloomsbury, 2024).
Dr Christian Reynolds is an expert in food loss and waste, sustainable diets, and food policy. He has researched and addressed these issues globally and has published extensively. He has provided evidence to parliaments and played a role in developing standards for food loss and waste accounting. His recent work focuses on citizen science, sustainability in the UK food system, and the environmental impact of public procurement. Currently, he is leading a project on reducing plastic packaging and food waste through product innovation simulation. He is also involved in a project investigating the effects of food taxes on the entire food system. He has previously held positions at WRAP where he worked on international food sustainability and integrating healthy sustainable eating and food waste reduction policies. Additionally, he has collaborated with global partners such as the World Bank, NRDC, and WWF.
Dr Rebecca Wells is a Senior Lecturer in Food Policy in the Centre for Food Policy at City St George’s, University of London, and the Programme Director for the university’s MSc in Food Policy. A former BBC radio producer and food journalist, Rebecca's research focuses on how food policy for better food systems is communicated. After completion of her PhD in Food Policy, Rebecca worked as a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow on the food systems teaching and learning programme IFSTAL (Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning), and a Research Fellow on the EU funded research project QUEST (QUality and Effectiveness in Science and Technology Communication). She is the PI for the Centre for the UKRI-funded Fix Our Food project, which explores food systems transformation in Yorkshire. She has a particular interest in food systems teaching and learning, has an MA in Academic Practice, and is the co-lead for the Centre for Food Policy on the UKRI funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Food Systems.
Dr Jed Odermatt is a Reader in International Law at The City Law School and convenor of the International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG). He leads the interdisciplinary module Sustainability and Climate Change at City St George’s.
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