8.7 Integrated and non-climate policies affecting emissions of GHGs
Many policies other than climate policies affect GHG emissions from agriculture. These include other UN conventions such as Biodiversity, Desertification and actions on Sustainable Development (see Section 8.4.5), macroeconomic policy such as EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)/CAP reform, international free trade agreements, trading blocks, trade barriers, region-specific programmes, energy policy and price adjustment, and other environmental policies including various environmental/agro-environmental schemes. These are described further below.
8.7.1 Other UN conventions
In Asia, China has introduced laws to convert croplands to forest and grassland in Vulnerable Ecological Zones under the UN Convention on Desertification. This will increase carbon storage and reduce N2O emissions. Under the UN Convention on Biodiversity, China has initiated a programme that restores croplands close to lakes, the sea, or other natural lands as conservation zones for wildlife. This may increase soil carbon sequestration but, if restored to wetland, could increase CH4 emissions. In support of UN Sustainable Development guidelines, China has introduced a Land Reclamation Regulation (1988) in which land degraded by, for example, construction or mining is restored for use in agriculture, thereby increasing soil carbon storage. In Europe (including Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia) and North America, the UN conventions have had few significant impacts on agricultural GHG emissions. In Europe, the UN Convention on Long Range Trans-boundary Air Pollutants also leads to regulations to control air pollutants (e.g., by regulating N emissions) that could have substantial impacts on emission reductions in the agricultural sector.