Ecology
Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to the pollution of all the parts of the environment in general. Livestock farming and actions connected with it contribute highly to global warming due to the emissions of couple of glass-house gases - according to FAO numbers the agriculture affect the global warming and pollution of the environment even more than worldwide transportation.
From the alimentary tract and excrements of livestock animals more than 40% of all emissions of methan are released. Furthermore livestock soil utilization, and the consequential processes connected with treating animal products release billions of tons of carbon dioxide. Animal farming systems also produce nutrious gases, which are the most dangerous oxides as far as the global warming is concerned and their participation is sometime reported as high as 65% of all world emissions.
However livestock farming also highly contributes to other problems connected with the pollution of the environment. The operation of the animal farming industry demands huge amounts of energy and water on a daily basis - according to the most conversative calculations, one kilogram of beef meat requires almost 4000 litres of water. Add to this pollution of soil by animal farming and slaughterhouse waste products poses yet another threat; continuous soil seizing for pasture lands leads to rapid deforesting. This is naturally connected with the decrease of biodiversity – the extinction of both vegetative and carnal species.
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According to UN numbers, there are 82 billion more people on the planet every year, and in relation with such a rapid increase of the world population, livestock farming is becoming a significant global issue. This fact is well known for institutions like the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which has been publishing reports concerning this matter in recent years. Many recommendations begin to appear and one of them is a certain declension from the livestock farming. Because of the fact that human health can be fully supported by plant-based food only, one of the possible solutions is a preference for plant based sources in general - of course resulting in a well-balanced diet supported by scientific studies concerning this matter.
According to one study, a person who only does not eat meat and prefers organic food requires 64% less carbon dioxide production for 1 kilogram of the person’s food. We also find very interesting numbers when we compare the emissions of carbon dioxide for various kinds of animal products. These numbers show that the production of dairy products weighs on the environment even more than the production of meat and other meat-related products: 441 kilograms of carbon dioxide for the production of 1kg of dairy products vs. 213 kilograms for 1kg of meat.
It seems as there will be a certain need to look for new approaches and solutions for serious future problems connected with the negative effects of livestock farming on the environment. The decrease of animal sources in human foods will probably be one of them.
You can visit the following interesting English webs on the impact of the livestock sector and ecology:
FAO - the scientific articles and reviews regarding the impacts of the livestock production and the environment can be found at the FAO´s section - Corporate Document Repository. The most comprehensive is the global assessment Livestock´s Long Shadow .
IPCC - for some other interesting documents see also the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, section Publications.
COAG - Committee on Agriculture, FAO - some of the publications also contain info on the impact of livestock sector and the environment.
you can see also:
