Cattle crowd around a feeder on a farm near Leslieville, Alta., Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. A year-old story about 13 countries committing to reduce methane emissions in agriculture is being misrepresented by websites known for spreading misinformation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Cattle crowd around a feeder on a farm near Leslieville, Alta., Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. A year-old story about 13 countries committing to reduce methane emissions in agriculture is being misrepresented by websites known for spreading misinformation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Social media users are sharing a screenshot of what looks like a news article claiming 13 Western countries have signed a World Economic Forum (WEF) treaty to "engineer an 'ethical global famine.'" This is false. The WEF has not called for an "ethical global famine," and while there is no formal treaty, 13 countries did release a statement committing to reduce methane gas emissions on May 17, 2023.
The screenshot comes from a June 22 post on the website the People's Voice, which has previously shared fake news ºÃÉ«tvhas debunked. The "13 Western countries, including the United States, have all signed a WEF treaty to engineer what they are calling an 'ethical global famine' as a part of the World Economic Forum's Agenda 2030 goals."
Several , formerly known as Twitter, shared the screenshot, including Ìý with large followings.
"These allegations are a serious indictment of the WEF!" reads. "Although not validated on an evidentiary level even the ideology 2030 agenda should concern you!!"
Rating: False
On May 17, 2023, representatives from 13 countries released a committing to reduce methane emissions in agriculture after a ministerial meeting put on by the Global Methane Hub, a group whose focus is on methane mitigation in the energy, agricultural and waste management sectors.
The group is unrelated to the World Economic Forum, an international organization that promotes public-private co-operation on a number of issues, and which has long been a target of conspiracy theories.
While the term "ethical global famine" appears in quotation marks in the headline of the People's Voice post, it is not attributed to anyone in the body text. A keyword search of the Global Methane Hub's and found no mention of the term.
A similar search of the found no mention of the term.
The same false story has been posted across an array of websites known to carry fake news, including on the Montreal-based Global Research website.
The Centre for Research on Globalization, which runs the Global Research website, is a self-proclaimed "independent research and media organization" run by a former University of Ottawa professor, Michel Chossudovsky. In 2020, the U.S. State Department accused the site of promoting Russian-linked , a claim that Chossudovsky denied.
The articles quote freelance writer Leo Hohmann, who appears to have originated the claim in a May, 2023 .
Hohmann, who has written for the far-right website WND and has previously been , warns of a coming famine "the likes of which has never been witnessed by the current generation of people on earth."
Insects farmed for pets, not humans
The People's Voice and Global Research posts repeat Hohmann's year-old claims that the Global Methane Hub is pushing to replace cows and chickens with crickets and insect larvae.
Hohmann wrote that the United Nations, World Economic Forum and other non-governmental organizations "have been promoting meatless diets and the consumption of insect protein for years." He wrote that insect mills in Canada and the Netherlands were built so insects can be used as "additives to be inserted into the food supply," often without clear labels.
While it is true that some organizations are pushing for , and some have proposed as an alternative protein source, the claims about replacing all meat with insects are false.
A , billed as the world's largest, was established by Aspire Food Group in London, Ont. in 2022 mainly to produce pet food, but quickly the bugs were part of a government ploy to replace meat with insects for human consumption.
In fact, about 90 per cent of the plant's product was meant for pet food while the rest was for human consumption, Aspire Food Group's CEO Mohammed Ashour .
Last year, that "substantially all of our production is going into pet food in North America," but the company is in talks with buyers outside North America for human food.
A debunking a claim that bugs will be added to food in the European Union without clear labels also pointed out that nearly two billion people around the world consume insects in their regular diet.
Global Methane Hub has not suggested on its website that it plans to replace livestock meat with insects.
Instead, the advocacy group is asking to "improve the quality and quantity of"finance for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in the agriculture and food sector, with the aim of lowering methane emissions. Global Methane Hub said in its 2023 release its focus was "the deployment of science-based practices, innovation and technologies in line with sustainable food production, food security, food loss, waste reduction and recovery."
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