The UN's Inconvenient Truth

Late last year the United Nations released a significant report, entitled "Livestock's Long Shadow" - which gave startling figures and details on the primary generator of greenhouse gases: Livestock.

That's right - it's not your car, SUV, or the neighbour's 22-wheeler that's the biggest contributor to climate change. That ignoble title must go to what you choose to put on your plate.

Several months have ticked by since the release of the report, but it has now found its way to a World Bank workshop, where the topic for the day is how to get the livestock industry to do what they are so keen not to do - i.e. internalise the environmental costs of their production systems (you'll note that getting at the root issue of encouraging a healthier diet - for both citizens and the environment - is not on the agenda today):

Henning Steinfeld, lead author of the FAO report, explained that for industrial systems (i.e., factory farms), internalizing costs is “pretty straightforward.” He noted that big producers of chickens, eggs, pigs, and even dairy cows—the operations responsible for most of the farm animal pollution in Western Europe and the United States—can easily access their pollution loads and alleviate pollution problems at the source. Steinfeld also pointed out that if environmental regulations for confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) were enforced, producers wouldn’t have a problem adhering to them—they have the money, expertise, and technology to prevent contamination from the mountains of manure and other hazards that CAFOs produce.

Unfortunately, what these operations lack is the willingness to change. The workshop participants pointed out (more than once) that although investments in treatment technologies—such as composting waste to produce biogas and prevent methane emissions—would raise producer costs by only about 5 to 10 percent in most cases, livestock producers are still practicing business as usual.

This could change, however—especially as livestock's role in climate change is increasingly recognized. The FAO report found that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a share higher than that contributed by cars, SUVs, and other vehicles. In addition, livestock account for 37 percent of global emissions of methane, a GHG with 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and 65 percent of emissions of nitrous oxide, another powerful GHG, most of which comes from manure. - Worldwatch

Again: "This could change, however—especially as livestock's role in climate change is increasingly recognized." So, here we are, doing our bit to ensure livestock's role is increasingly recognised. And, we would do well to recognise this, as meat consumption is escalating rapidly as the developing world clamors for the high-fat diet that's killing us in the North.

Bringing home the bacon...

I don't have a transcript of the entire World Bank workshop discussion, unfortunately, but the little info shared on Worldwatch would indicate the minds brought to bear on the issue may have concentrated only on one aspect of the problem - that of the pollution that 'exudes' directly from the animal itself. The UN report, however, details all the detrimental environmental aspects of animal 'production', including the enormous amount of land, water, and chemical inputs used to grow the food these animals eat - arguably a bigger issue.

The livestock sector is by far the single largest anthropogenic user of land. The total area occupied by grazing is equivalent to 26 percent of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet. In addition, the total area dedicated to feedcrop production amounts to 33 percent of total arable land. In all, livestock production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. - Livestock's Long Shadow, Executive Summary

The figures in that last paragraph are nothing short of astounding - especially when you consider these are today's statistics only. Factor in the expected growth in meat consumption, and you'll begin to see this is not a minor issue.

Global production of meat is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/01 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, and that of milk to grow from 580 to 1 043 million tonnes. The environmental impact per unit of livestock production must be cut by half, just to avoid increasing the level of damage beyond its present level. - Livestock's Long Shadow, Executive Summary

If you want to help ensure this is "increasingly recognised", use the 'forward this story' link below to share this page with your family and friends. Also, the Vegetarian Society has a great little 1-page handout (PDF) that encapsulates several of the main points.

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