Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T16:16:34.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Livestock and the environment: addressing the consequences of livestock sector growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2012

C. Opio ,
P. Gerber  and
H. Steinfeld
C. Opio*
Affiliation:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 000153 Rome, Italy
P. Gerber
Affiliation:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 000153 Rome, Italy
H. Steinfeld
Affiliation:
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 000153 Rome, Italy
*
†E-mail: Carolyn.Opio@fao.org
Get access

Abstract

The livestock sector has a key and growing role in the agricultural economy. It is a major provider of livelihood support for a large part of the world's poor. It is also an important determinant of human health and diet. Over the last three decades, the global livestock sector has rapidly evolved in response to human population growth, income growth and urbanization. And until recently, much of the focus of the sector has been geared towards satiating this demand. However, the rapid growth in demand for animal protein, has resulted in complex interactions among bio-physical resources, economic and social objectives with implications for the natural resource-base and the environment. Livestock production has a large impact on the world's natural resources and contributes significantly to environmental problems such as ecosystem pollution and degradation, global warming and climate change by emission of greenhouse gases and biodiversity loss. This paper provides an overview of the growth within the livestock sector, explores the inter-linkages between the rapidly increasing demand for animal protein and environmental consequences, as well as advances possible technical and policy interventions that are appropriate for the enhancement of the sector's role in food security, poverty reduction, economic development while contributing to environmental sustainability.

Keywords

livestockenvironmentsustainabilityimpact
Type
Full Paper
Information
Advances in Animal Biosciences , Volume 2 , Issue 3: The interactions between the livestock industry and climate change. Plenary Session, EAAP Annual Meeting, Crete 2010 , 20 February 2012 , pp. 601 - 607
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barona, E, Ramankutty, N, Hyman, G, Comes, OT 2010. The role of pasture and soybean in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. Environ. Res. Lett. 5 024002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutsch, L, Falkenmark, M, Gorden, L, Rockstrom, J, Folke, C 2010. Water-mediated ecological consequences of intensification and expansion of livestock production. In Livestock in a changing landscape: drivers, consequences and responses (ed. H Steinfeld, HA Mooney, F Schneider and LE Neville), Vol. 1, pp. 97–110. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Falkenmark, M 1995. Land-water linkages: A synopsis, land and water integration and river basin management Land and Water bulletin, 15-16, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.Google Scholar
FAO 2001. Soil carbon sequestration for improved land management. World Soil Resources Report 96. Rome. FAO. (2011). Global food losses and food waste: extent, causes and prevention. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
FAO 2006. World Agriculture: towards 2030/2050. Interim report. Rome, June 2006.Google Scholar
FAO 2009a. State of food and agriculture 2009: livestock in the balance. FAO, Rome.Google Scholar
FAO 2009b. State of the world's forests 2009. FAO publication, Rome, Italy, ISBN 978-92-5-106057-5.Google Scholar
FAO 2010. Greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy sector: a life cycle assessment. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
FAOSTAT 2011. FAO Statistical database. Accessed 10 August 2011.Google Scholar
Gerber, P, Vellinga, T, Opio, C, Steinfeld, H 2011. Productivity gains and greenhouse gas emissions intensity in dairy systems. Livestock Science 139 (1-2), 100–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galloway, JN, Dentener, F, Burke, M, Dumont, E, Bouman, AF, Kohn, RA, Mooney, HA, Seitzinger, S, Kroeze, C 2010. The impact of animal production systems on the nitrogen cycle. In Livestock in a changing landscape (ed. H. Steinfeld, Mooney HA, Schneider F and Neville LE), Vol. 1, pp. 83–95. Island Press, Washington.Google Scholar
IPCC 2007. Climate change 2007. Mitigation. Contribution of working group iii to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, USA.Google Scholar
Kaimowitz, D, Angelsen, A 2008. ‘Will livestock intensification help save Latin America's tropical forests?’. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 27 (1), 6–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krusmann, F, Erb, KH, Gingrich, S, Lauk, C, Haberl, H 2008. Global patterns of socioeconomic biomass flows in year 2000: a comprehensive assessment of supply, consumption and constraints. Ecological Economics 39, 325–338.Google Scholar
MEA 2005. Biodiversity. In Ecosystems and human wellbeing: Current state and trends (ed. R Hassan, R Scholes and N Ash), pp. 77–122. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
OECD-FAO. (2009). OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018. http://www.agri-outlook.org/dataoecd/2/31/43040036.pdfGoogle Scholar
Reid, RS, Bedelian, C, Said, MY, Kruska, RL, Rogerio, MM, Castel, V, Olson, J, Thornton, P 2010. Global livestock impacts on biodiversity. In Livestock in a changing landscape: drivers, consequences and responses (ed. H Steinfeld, HA Mooney, F Schneider and LE Neville), Vol. 1, pp. 111–137. Island Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Steinfeld, H, Gerber, P, Wassenaar, T, Castel, V, Rosales, M, de Haan, C 2006. Livestock's long shadow: environmental issues and options. FAO, Rome.Google Scholar
Smith, P, Martino, D, Cai, Z, Gwary, D, Janzen, HH, Kumar, P, McCarl, B, Ogle, S, O'Mara, F, Rice, C, Scholes, RJ, Sirotenko, O, Howden, M, McAllister, T, Pan, G, Romanenkov, V, Schneider, U, Towprayoon, S, Wattenbach, M, Smith, JU 2008. Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363, 789–813.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wassenaar, T, Gerber, P, Verburg, M, Rosales, M, Ibrahim, , Steinfeld, H 2007. Projecting land use changes in the neotropics: the geography of pasture expansion into forest. Global Environmental Change 17, 86–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westhoek, H, Rood, T, van den Berg, M, Janse, J, Nijdam, D, Reudink, M, Stehfest, E 2011. The protein puzzle. The consumption and production of meat, dairy and fish in the European Union. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague.Google Scholar