No, 13 nations did not commit to abolishing farming to 'save the planet'

By: Rohith Gutta
August 3 2023

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Context

A post on X, formerly Twitter, posted on July 31, 2023, claims that “13 Nations Agree to Abolish Farming in order to 'Save the Planet.'” The contains a link to an article by eutimes.net, which refers to a press release from the Global Methane Hub to claim that 13 countries have committed to abolishing agriculture. The Global Methane Hub is a philanthropic organization based in Santiago, Chile, that works to mitigate Methane emissions. The post has more than 573,000 views and more than 4000 reposts at the time of publication. Archived version of the post can be found here. 

Methane, a hydrocarbon, is one of the Green House Gases responsible for anthropocentric climate change. According to the Global Methane Assessment published by the United National Environment Programme and Climate and Clean Air Coalition in 2021, most of the human emissions of methane stem from three sectors - fossil fuels, waste, and agriculture. According to the assessment, agriculture contributes 40 percent of emissions, while 35 percent is attributed to fossil fuels, and 20 percent to waste. A Global Methane Pledge was signed by 150 nations in 2021 to voluntarily reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent of 2020 levels by 2030.

However, the post and article misrepresent the results of the Global Methane Hub, and these 13 countries did not decide to abolish agriculture to "save the planet."

In fact

A press release from May 17, 2023, by the Global Methane Hub states that the “agriculture and environment ministers and ambassadors from 13 countries, including the United States, have issued a commitment to reduce methane emissions in agriculture.” It makes no mention of the abolition of agriculture altogether.

A Global Ministerial on Agricultural Practices to reduce Methane Emissions was organized in April in Santiago by the Ministries of Agriculture of Chile and Spain in collaboration with organizations including the Global Methane Hub, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, and agricultural ministries from over 20 countries.

At the meeting, it was decided that countries' signatories to the declaration would commit to supporting efforts to improve access to finance for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in the agriculture and food sectors and to collaborate on efforts aimed at lowering methane emissions in agriculture and food systems. Thirteen countries signed up to this declaration. They are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Panama, Peru, Spain, the United States, and Uruguay. None of these countries have made any proposal or announcement to "abolish" agriculture.

Such claims are part of the Great Reset conspiracy theory that arose following the WEF's 2020 summit, spreading the belief the WEF and world governments aim to dismantle society. Logically Facts has repeatedly debunked such claims, which can be found in the fact check library.

The verdict

Thirteen countries came together and signed a declaration to support efforts to reduce agricultural methane emissions as part of climate change mitigation. There is no decision to abolish agriculture. Therefore, we have marked this claim false.