Global Insights into Two Decades of Climate Legislation in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Climate change necessitates immediate legislative action across all sectors, especially agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, due to their substantial role in climate change mitigation and their vulnerability to climate impacts. This study employs advanced AI-driven natural language processing to identify key patterns, trends, and themes, by analyzing 264,739 pages of climate-related legal texts from 189 countries in 51 languages between 2001 and 2022. The findings reveal a significant increase in climate-related legislation, with policies being the dominant governance instrument. Regional variations highlight differing legislative priorities, such as disaster preparedness in Asia and sustainable forestry in North America. The study demonstrates the alignment of climate legislation with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (Climate Action) and its interactions with other SDGs, thus providing insights into policy coherence and gaps in resilience-building strategies. While sectoral climate legislation demonstrates connections to emissions and vulnerability, particularly in water and food security, other factors might be more influential. This research offers critical insights into the strengths and gaps in current climate policies in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, informing future strategies to enhance global climate action.