Soaring international production of livestock could release enough carbon into the atmosphere by 2050 to single-handedly exceed 'safe' levels of climate change, says a study. Scientists combined figures for livestock production in 2000 with Food and Agriculture Organization projections for population growth and meat consumption by 2050. They found that the livestock sector's emissions alone could send temperatures above the 2 degrees Celsius rise commonly said to be the threshold above which climate change could be destabilising.
Soaring international production of livestock could release enough carbon into the atmosphere by 2050 to single-handedly exceed 'safe' levels of climate change, says a study. Scientists combined figures for livestock production in 2000 with Food and Agriculture Organization projections for population growth and meat consumption by 2050. They found that the livestock sector's emissions alone could send temperatures above the 2 degrees Celsius rise commonly said to be the threshold above which climate change could be destabilising.
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They also make a more conservative estimate: that the sector will contribute enough greenhouse gas emissions to take up 70 per cent of the 'safe' 2 degree temperature rise.
Nathan Pelletier and Peter Tyedmers, researchers at Dalhousie University, Canada — whose work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences yesterday (4 October) — called on governments to prioritise the reining in of the livestock sector, adding that "mobilising the necessary political will to implement such policies is a daunting but necessary prospect".
The authors' calculations took account of predicted efficiency gains in meat production, and said that such practices should be "vigorously pursued". They also recommended a shift in production away from ruminants, such as cattle and sheep, to poultry and to well-managed fisheries and aquaculture. They also suggested "across the board" reduction in per capita consumption of livestock products, something they say may be "particularly feasible and advantageous in developed countries".
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