Another evening, another fringe event - and another opportunity to share a platform with Secretary of State, Hilary Benn.
This evening's event was organised by Friends of the Earth and was about deforestation and agriculture.
My speech was along these lines:
Two hundred years ago about 14% of the Earth was covered with rainforest, now this fantastic habitat only covers c6% - we have wrought huge and dramatic changes on the face of the Earth. That loss of rainforest continues at a rate of about one and a half acres each second and is the main source of c20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But also the source of an estimated 50, 000 species extinctions each year. That is an astounding figure.
Imagine now, that you are in charge of the management of the world - you are in charge. I think you'd want to stop the destruction of rainforest because of the greenhouse gas emissions that affect the global climate, because of the erosion of soils that results, because of the increased flood risk that follows, because of the loss of water quality that accompanies forest loss and because you wouldn't want to lose all those species.
And you would be right! But it isn't that simple because the decision to stop rainforest destruction will be the subject of negotiation by scores of governments in Copenhagen this December. That's a very difficult forum for making sensible decisions and so we must wish Hilary Benn, Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown the best of luck in trying to reach a meaningful deal.
We've heard from other speakers that global agriculture is probably responsible for about 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And we need to make 80% reductions, globally, to put our emissions on a sustainable basis. 80% - that's an awful lot. And clearly it means that agricultural emissions must be cut too. And yet we may have 50% more people on the planet in four or five decades time so that if we continue with business as usual then those emissions will rise.
We surely need a low-carbon agriculture - globally and in the UK. So am I going to tell you what that agriculture will look like? I'm afraid not - because I don't know. Am I going to make the cheap point that the Secretary of State should know? No, I am not because I don't think anyone does know - yet. But we need to know.
Will a low-carbon agriculture be GM agriculture? It might be, but I have yet to see practical proposals for GM crops that will stack up as wildlife-friendly and sustainable crops. They may be out there, I hope they are, but let's see them please.
Will a low-carbon agriculture be organic agriculture? It might be, and in many ways I hope it will be as organic agriculture has real benefits for wildlife in the UK, but I can't be sure.
Perhaps what we need, is to concentrate on resource-efficient agriculture - an agriculture that uses fewer of the world's resources, produces lots of safe food but results in fewer harmful pollutants. That is clearly a big ask - but one to which we ought to put the best brains and scientists to deliver part of the solution to feeding the world in ways that do not destroy it and can be maintained indefinitely. But that new low-carbon agriculture cannot be business as usual.
Hardest problem ever.Just seeing traffic on M6 on Friday's is frightening for the environment and of course just the tip of the iceberg if any left.Oh for world leaders to make some tough decisions and stop being so preoccupied with their own country getting best deal.Some tough decisions need making and the longer they are put off the tougher they will have to be.