Meat production has now expanded to the point that there are now approximately three chickens for every human on the planet. Scientists have consistently stressed that if dangerous global heating is to be avoided, a major rethink of eating habits and farming practices is required. The climate crisis is also itself a cause of hunger, with a recent study finding that a third of global food production will be at risk by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at their current rate. The paper’s calculations of the climate impact of meat is higher than previous estimates – the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization has said about 14% of all emissions come from meat and diary production. Food-related emissions have grown rapidly in China and India as increasing wealth and cultural changes have led more younger people in these countries to adopt meat-based diets. They found that South America is the region with the largest share of animal-based food emissions, followed by south and south-east Asia and then China. ![]() The researchers built a database that provided a consistent emissions profile of 171 crops and 16 animal products, drawing data from more than 200 countries. But if people are concerned about climate change, they should seriously consider changing their dietary habits.” You can’t just impose your views on others. “A lot of this comes down to personal choice. “I’m a strict vegetarian and part of the motivation for this study was to find out my own carbon footprint, but it’s not our intention to force people to change their diets,” said Jain. The researchers said that societies should be aware of this significant discrepancy when addressing the climate crisis. A single kilo of beef, meanwhile, creates 70kg of emissions. The difference in emissions between meat and plant production is stark – to produce 1kg of wheat, 2.5kg of greenhouse gases are emitted. You need more biomass to feed animals in order to get the same amount of calories. “To produce more meat you need to feed the animals more, which then generates more emissions. “All of these things combined means that the emissions are very high,” said Xiaoming Xu, another University of Illinois researcher and the lead author of the paper. Livestock also produce large quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The paper calculates that the majority of all the world’s cropland is used to feed livestock, rather than people. Grazing animals require a lot of land, which is often cleared through the felling of forests, as well as vast tracts of additional land to grow their feed. The crop sector generally resisted better than the livestock sector.Animal-based food production contributes to the most emissions.In the livestock sector such integration will take longer, in view of the capital investments, restructuring and the reorganisation of management still needed.In the livestock sector the recovery would be less marked.An increase in the real value of animal production, in particular for pork and poultry (+7 % and +4 % respectively). ![]() It provides the opportunity to deepen the understanding of the opportunities and challenges of animal production and trade in the international dialogue between politics, science, business and civil society.Special attention is paid to the limitations of animal production on the farm level.substances which have a positive effect on the environmental impact of livestock production.In relation to meat, that review should focus on how the EU can use its promotion programme to support the most sustainable, carbon-efficient methods of livestock production.An outbreak can spread quickly, causing death and disruption which can severely reduce the profitability of livestock production. ![]()
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