Livestock at the Crossroads: new Directions for Policy, Research and Development Cooperation

Livestock, climate change and resource use: present and future

Andy Jarvis, Caitlin Peterson, Phil Thornton, Polly Ericksen, Mario Herrero, Michael Peters

CCAFS Theme Leader

Livestock products: Developing countries are hungry for more.

• Growth in animal product consumption has increased more than any other commodity group.1

• Greatest increases in S and SE Asia, Latin America.

-Overall meat consumption in China has quadrupled since 1980 to 119 lbs/person/yr. 2

• Economic and population growth, rising per capita incomes, urbanization

Photo by: CGIAR

• Between 1961 and 2005 milk consumption in developing countries doubled, meat consumption tripled, and egg consumption increased by a factor of five. 1

2 Livestock consumption patterns

3 Livestock consumption patterns

Past and projected consumption of livestock products

Source: FAO (2006a) and FAO (2006b).

• As incomes grow, expenditure on livestock products increases rapidly .3

-GDP growth in E Asia from 1991-2001 was 7% per year, compared to 2.3% in other developing countries and 1.8% in developed countries.

• Consumption is leveling off in developed countries, but more than doubled since 1980 in developing countries (from 31 lbs. to 62 lbs. in 2002).

-Rapid growth led by China, India, & Brazil projected to continue.

The livestock sector has a substantial GHG “hoofprint.”

Livestock Emissions Source

Gigatons CO2 equivalent

Land use and land-use change 2.5

Feed production 0.4

Animal production 1.9

Manure management 2.2

Processing and transport 0.03

• Responsible for 50% of all land use change emissions, 80% of all agriculture emissions.3

Source: FAO

Photo by: CGIAR

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• 10-18%3 of all global anthropogenic GHG-Other estimates as high as 51%4,5

• Range arises from methodological differences

-Inventories vs. life cycle assessments

-Attribution of land use to livestock

-Omissions, misallocations

2 Livestock and GHG

Source: de Vries and de Boer (2009)

Range of GHG intensities for livestock commodities

• Highest variation occurs for beef, due to variety of production systems.

• Ruminants require more fossil energy use, emit more CH4 per animal.6

Which system is more sustainable?

Source: Erb et al. (2007)

• 30-45% of earth’s terrestrial surface is pasture

- 80% of all agricultural land

• 1/3 arable land used for feed crop production

• 70% of previously forested land in the Amazon = pasture

3 Livestock and GHG

Contribution of extensive (pastoral) and intensive (feed-supplemented, including feed-lot) livestock systems to greenhouse gas emissions.

IPCC default methane producing potential (BO) values for developed and developing countries.

4 Livestock and GHG

• Only 3% of total global GHG emissions produced by ruminants in Sub-Saharan Africa (which supports 166 million poor livestock keepers)9

• Most emissions come from industrialized countries practicing factory farming

• The least emissions come from family farms in developing countries…

-But emissions per animal are higher (usually due to poor diet)

African livelihoods continue to depend on livestock.

• E Africa: 40-50% meat comes from pastoral systems, but transitioning to mixed crop-livestock

• Concentrated in arid/semi-arid zones

• Use of animals for draft power has increased over most of Africa: from 350,000 to 2 million oxen in the past 50 yrs in W Africa alone

Source: FAO 2011

Photo by: Neil Palmer

• Demand for livestock products in Sub-Saharan Africa projected to double, from 200 kcal/person/day in 2000 to 400 kcal/person/day in 2050.7

-Population growth a huge factor

• Estimated to contribute 30% to Africa’s agricultural GDP in 2003

• Africa is a growing net import region (US $2,258 million in 2003)

Source: FAO 2005

Net trade in livestock products in Africa

2 Africa and livestock

Photo by: ILRI

Rwanda’s “One Cow per Poor Family” Program (Girinka) demonstrates power of livestock to alleviate poverty.

• Family either receives donation of cow or bank loan to buy one. • Calf is shared with other members of community

3 Africa and livestock

RESULTS:

• Reduced malnutrition risk

• Income from sale of milk and offspring

• Manure for croplands

• Community solidarity

Livestock systems face a number of climate change related challenges.

• Disease and pest distributions• Quantity, quality, and composition

of feed• Increased cost of housing and feed• Water availability and quality• Decreased productivity due to heat

stress• Impaired reproduction/increased

mortality

Livestock production system in areas projected to undergo over 20 per cent

reduction in Length of Growing Period to 2050

Source: ILRI

3 Climate change effects

• Greatest impacts will be felt in grazing systems in arid/semi-arid areas

• Changes in range-fed livestock numbers directly proportional to change in annual precipitation8

-Several GCMs predict precipitation decrease of 10-20% in semi-arid zones of Africa

Areas in East Africa where a) rain per rainy day may increase by more than 10 per cent and b) rain per rainy

day may decrease by more than 10 per cent

Source: Ericksen et al. 2011

Photo by: Neil Palmer

Developing country productions systems that are eco-efficient

Source: ILRISmith P et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363:789-813 (2008)

B1 scenario shown though the pattern is similar for all SRES scenarios

Potential for reduced CH4 and CO2 emissions from livestock and pasture management in the tropics

Option Kg CH4/t milk Kg CH4/t meat

Cerrado 78 1552

100% adoption† of Brachiaria pasture

31 713

30% adoption† of Brachiaria pasture

64 1300

Table: Mitigation options in rangeland-based humid-subhumid systems in Central and South America

Source: Philip K. Thornton and Mario Herrero (2010), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (46):19667-19672

†“Adoption” refers to the proportion of total milk and meat production in 2030 that comes from implementing the option analyzed.

The adoption of improved Brachiaria pastures would reduce the methane emissions by more than half compared to production on the natural cerrado vegetation.

Silvopastoral systems:A mini-revolution in Colombia

and Central AmericaPiedemonte llanero

Estado inicial: Julio 17, 2007

Agosto 15, 2008

13 meses

Octubre 22, 2008

15 meses

MAC curve showing the potential CO2e capture for the implementation of SSPi in different regions of Colombia

It’s all about the livestock…..either improve it’s efficiency, or get out of it!

Carbon capture (CO2eq) for agricultural sector (fruits, livestock and rice) in Colombia

The hoofprint means there is plenty to do!

• Livestock IS a major contributor to climate change, and arguably has the largest ecological footprint on the planet (certainly in terms of area).

• Trend is that things can only get worse – greater demand for livestock products. Likely to have a larger and larger share of global greenhouse emissions.

• Developing countries are where it’s at! Biggest potential for mitigation, and plenty of opportunities out there for major system transformations

• There are still big knowledge gaps that research can and should fill, starting with better estimates of emissions

• Good policies accompanied by the right technologies could transform the hoofprint and put developed nations to shame

a.jarvis@cgiar.org

1 The state of food and agriculture: Livestock in the balance. Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 2009, 9.

2 FAOSTAT 2010, cited in: Skillful means: The challenges of China’s encounter with factory farming. New York: Brighter Green, 2011, 1.

3 Steinfeld et al. (2006). Livestock’s long shadow: Environmental issues and options. Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

4 Goodland, R., and Anhang, J. 2009. Livestock and climate change: What if the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows? WorldWatch November/December 2009, p10-19, WorldWatch Institute, Washington DC

5 Herrero, M. et al. 2011. Livestock and greenhouse gas emissions: The importance of getting the numbers right. Animal Feed Science and Technology 166-167: 779-782.

6 de Vries, M., and de Boer, I.J.M., 2009. Comparing environmental impacts for livestock products: A review of life cycle assessments. Livestock Science 128(1): 1-11.

7 Thornton, P. 2010. Livestock production: Recent trends, future prospects. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Biology 365: 2853-2867.

8 Working group II: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, Africa, 10.2.2.4. Livestock. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001.

9 Climate, livestock and poverty: Challenges at the interface. Nairobi: International Livestock Research Institute, 2009.