The National Sheep Association (NSA) has said it is looking forward to increasing awareness and appreciation of the benefits of permanent pasture grasslands, as COP27 continues this week in Egypt.
The NSA said professors and researchers within the agricultural sector around the world are recognising the value of grasslands to the carbon cycle, biodiversity, habitats and soil organic matter.
Chief executive of the NSA, Phil Stocker, said: “Farming and the environment are inextricably linked in the UK.
“Our unique landscape, formed through thousands of years of traditional farming methods and management by farmers, including the grazing of sheep, has encouraged the adaptation of many animal and plant species.”
Pasture grasses take CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester it in soil, roots and foliage.
With two-thirds of terrestrial carbon in British landscapes in soils in the form of organic matter and soil life, NSA believes that permanent pasture and unimproved grassland are reliable ways to deliver environmental gains and food production from land unsuitable for cultivation.
“Across the UK, grasslands need to be at the heart of sustainable, nature-friendly farming, being grazed by farm livestock,” Stocker said.
“Farmers and other land managers across the UK are critical to unlocking the potential situation that grasslands and other sustainable land management offer.
Stocker said that recent warnings from the UN at this year’s COP27 in Egypt convey the desperate need for governments to adopt a different approach and invest in sustainable farming rather than mass planting trees.
He said there must be an adequate investment in renewable energy and a focused approach to food and retailer sourcing putting as much British produce first as possible.
