How food forests combat climate change
Forming an essential part of a sustainable, secure food-growing future, food forests help to combat the climate crisis

Trees especially, plus other perennial plants draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The more of these we plant, the greater the benefit to our planet.
Food can be grown closer to home by local communities, greatly reducing food miles and therein the use of planet warming fossil fuels in transportation.
People can learn to eat more seasonally, further reducing the food miles travelled for food to reach us.
A well-designed food forest should have everything it needs growing naturally, and in the case of compost made, onsite.
If we include food forests within our main food sources and increase the proportion of plant-based food that we eat we can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
To give context: Global grazing land, plus cropland for animal feed accounts for 80% of agricultural use, methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide and traps around 120 times more heat.
Carbon emissions of highly damaging pesticides can be avoided.
With food forests less water need be used, not only conserving what will be an increasingly precious resource in a warming planet but reducing the need for various chemicals and industrial water-treatment processes, and transportation of water.
If we include food forests in every park, public green space and in small scales in private gardens, alongside integrating them in our agricultural land, then we could have a hugely positive impact on lessening the climate crisis.