'No clear pathway' to climate-friendly livestock production: Worldwatch

By Caroline SCOTT-THOMAS

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Carbon dioxide

Minimising meat and dairy consumption is an 'obvious way' to cut agricultural emissions, says Worldwatch
Minimising meat and dairy consumption is an 'obvious way' to cut agricultural emissions, says Worldwatch
Annual global greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and livestock have increased 13% since 1990 as food production has increased - with the majority coming from livestock, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute.

However, food production has become more energy efficient, as the volume of agricultural production increased 23% from 1990 to 2010. The sector is the third biggest contributor to overall GHG emissions - at 4.69bn tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2010 - after transport, and electricity and heat production.

Methane accounts for about half of all agricultural emissions, and animals' digestion - enteric fermentation - is the biggest source of methane, making animals' digestive process the biggest single contributor to the sector's GHG emissions.

"Adding oils or oilseeds to feed can help with digestion and reduce methane emissions," said Worldwatch Food and Agriculture researcher and study author Laura Reynolds. "But a shift from a grass-based to a grain- and oilseeds-based diet often accompanies a shift from pastures to concentrated feedlots, which has a range of negative consequences such as water pollution and high fossil fuel consumption.

"Aside from reducing livestock populations, there is no other clear pathway to climate-friendly meat production from livestock."

Emissions from enteric fermentation rose 7.6% from 1990 to 2010, but there were big regional variations. Emissions from this source in Europe actually fell 48.1% in tandem with declining beef production, but the report said increased use of grains and oils in feed, instead of grasses, could also have played a part.

Emissions from enteric fermentation increased by 51.4% in Africa during the period, and by 28.1% in Asia.

After methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide are the other most common gases produced through agriculture.Nitrous oxide is responsible for 36% of agricultural GHG emissions, the report found, and is particularly high when synthetic fertilizers are applied to soil.

Meanwhile, carbon dioxide accounts for about 14% of agricultural emissions, and the largest source is drainage and cultivation of organic soils - those in wetlands, peatlands, bogs or fens, which are rich in organic material.

Worldwatch said that apart from reducing livestock populations, other ways to reduce global emissions from agriculture include planting trees to restore soils and reduce water contamination, and reducing soil tillage.

Global GHG emissions from transport reached 6.76bn tons in 2010, while emissions from electricity and heat production totalled 12.48bn tons, according to the report.

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2 comments

Many bodies make atmosphere hurt!

Posted by Mike Pusey,

Anyone with a brain can see that the root cause of our problems with global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and the like is overpopulation. No amount of improved efficiency can sustain the continuing growth in population and anyone who thinks this is a solution is fooling themselves

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No Path For Those Without Vision

Posted by Larry M. Aden,

The meat proteins, which increased our brain size, were wasted on these people. There is a clear path to sustainable livestock production through increased production, capture and use of the very methane that these visionless "experts" site, to entirely replace the petroleum consumed by production agriculture, today. For, with proper anaerobic digestion of animal wastes, crop residues, as well as organic humate run-offs from cultivated fields, we can make all production agriculture energy positive, and still have an abundance of even more suitable natural fertilizers to return to the land to nearly eliminate the current NO2 emissions sited.
The animal and plant worlds are inextricably linked, feeding each other into abundance, and people whose biases preclude them from accepting that fact, are experts in nothing, except undeserved self-promotion.

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