The Paris climate change agreement that has been reached by 195 countries has been welcomed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Minister Simon Coveney said the agreement included some particular points of importance to the agriculture, food and forest sectors.

He said: "I welcome the fact that the Paris Agreement acknowledges the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change.

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"These aspects of the COP agreement are consistent with the European Council’s decision last year when the 28 EU Heads of State and Governments agreed to adopt sustainable intensification as EU policy on agriculture and climate change."

The Minister also said that the COP agreement includes a clear recognition of role of forests in mitigating climate change and the need to account for both emissions and removals "this is something that the Irish Government has been emphasising at EU and UN levels for some years".

He continued: "In Ireland our ambition is to be a global leader in sustainable food production. We already have a climate efficient agriculture, but we want to do much more and to ensure that we are and remain the most sustainable producer or milk, beef and other products in the world."

(CD)