Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector

Herrero, Mario; Henderson, B.; Havlík, Petr; Thornton, Philip K.; Conant, Richard T.; Smith, Pete; Wirsenius, Stefan; Hristov, A.N.; Gerber, Pierre; Gill, M.; Butterbach‐Bahl, Klaus; Valin, Hugo; Garnett, Tara; Stehfest, Elke

doi:10.1038/nclimate2925

Cited by 762 publications

(571 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…In addition, current livestock production contributes greatly to a number of environmental problems such as acidification due to leaching of ammonia, climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, loss of plant biodiversity, and water pollution. These are highlighted in Steinfeld et al (2006) and later in other publications (Gerber et al 2013;Herrero et al 2015;Herrero et al 2016). The question is whether the production of insects as an alternative protein source is environmentally more sustainable than the production of conventional animals (Abbasi et al 2015, Gahukar 2016.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Moreover, the relative increase in volume is more pronounced in developing countries (113%) than in developed countries (27%) (Alexandratos and Bruinsma 2012; p. 94). It is somewhat disproportional that meat represents 15% of the total energy in the global human diet, while approximately 80% of agricultural land (3,400 million ha as pastures and 500 million ha as crop land) is used for animal grazing or the production of livestock feed and fodder (Herrero et al 2015;Herrero et al 2016). Furthermore, livestock decreases food supply, since the grains fed to pigs and poultry could be used for human consumption.…”

Section: Need To Replace Current Protein Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 20 billion domesticated food-producing animals produce between 5.6 and 7.5 Gt CO 2 equivalents per year, cattle being responsible for 64-78% of these emissions (Herrero et al 2016). The main sources are methane (CH 4 ) from enteric fermentation and animal manure (43%), N 2 O from manure and slurry management (29%), and CO 2 from land use changes and fossil fuel usage (27%).…”

Section: Climate Change and Dietary Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main sources are methane (CH 4 ) from enteric fermentation and animal manure (43%), N 2 O from manure and slurry management (29%), and CO 2 from land use changes and fossil fuel usage (27%). These emissions reflect nonefficient use of initial inputs and resources in the form of loss of energy, nutrients, and soil organic matter (Gerber et al 2013;Herrero et al 2016). These authors indicate that half of the mitigation potential for agriculture, forestry and land use sectors lies within livestock production.…”

Section: Climate Change and Dietary Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The environmental sustainability of insects as food and feed. A review

Huis

Oonincx

2017

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

663

381

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With a growing world population, increasingly demanding consumers, and a limited amount of agricultural land, there is an urgent need to find alternatives to conventional meat products. Livestock production is, moreover, a leading cause of anthropogenic-induced climate change. To mediate this, more sustainable diets are needed, with reduced meat consumption or the use of alternative protein sources. Insects are promoted as human food and animal feed worldwide. In tropical countries, edible insects are harvested from nature, but overexploitation, habitat changes, and environmental contamination threaten this food resource. Therefore, sustainable harvesting practices need to be developed and implemented. We provide examples of (1) aquatic insects whose populations are threatened by pollution, (2) caterpillar species in Africa that are disappearing due to overexploitation and habitat change, (3) edible insects species that are considered pests in agro-ecosystems, and (4) edible insect species that can be conserved and enhanced in forest management systems. Insect farming can be conducted either on small-scale farms or in large-scale industrialized rearing facilities. We review the environmental sustainability of insect farming compared to livestock production. The major environmental advantages of insect farming compared to livestock production are as follows: (1) less land and water is required; (2) greenhouse gas emissions are lower; (3) insects have high feed conversion efficiencies; (4) insects can transform low-value organic by-products into highquality food or feed; and (5) certain insect species can be used as animal feed or aqua feed. For instance, they can replace fish meal, which is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive.However, edible insect species intended for production should be screened for risks to humans, animals, plants, and biodiversity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Need To Replace Current Protein Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Climate Change and Dietary Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Climate Change and Dietary Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The environmental sustainability of insects as food and feed. A review

Huis

Oonincx

2017

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

663

381

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Emission intensity was usually related to management practices. The high GHG emission intensities were driven by low animal productivity across large areas of arid lands, the use of low-quality feeds, feed scarcity, and animals with low productive potential that were often used for draft power and to manage household risk, as well as for production [32]. In Indonesia, ruminants were mostly raised traditionally by smallholders and more than 90% of the beef cattle production in Indonesia were derived from small holder cattle operations, often with only 2-3 cattle per household [33].…”

Section: Ghg Emission Intensitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensities for the Livestock Sector in Indonesia, Based on the National Specific Data

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The aims of this study were to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to identify the trends of GHG emission intensity, based on meat production from the livestock sector in Indonesia, which had not been done before. The total emissions from the livestock sector from 2000 to 2015 in Indonesia were calculated using the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guideline (2006 IPCC GL) using Tier 1 and Tier 2, with its default values and some of the country specific data that were found in the grey literature. During 2000 to 2015, the change from the Tier 1 to Tier 2 methods resulted in an approximately 7.39% emission decrease from enteric fermentation and a 4.24% increase from manure management, which resulted in a 4.98% decrease in the total emissions. The shared emission from manure management increased by about 9% and 6% using Tier 1 and Tier 2, respectively. In contrast with the total emissions, the overall emission intensity in Indonesia decreased (up to 60.77% for swine), showing that the livestock productivity in Indonesia has become more efficient. In order to meet the meat demand with less GHG emissions, chicken farming is one option to be developed. The increased emission and share from manure management indicated that manure management system needs to be of concern, especially for beef cattle and swine.

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Quantification of uncertainties in global grazing systems assessment

Fetzel¹,

Havlík

Herrero

et al. 2017

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Livestock systems play a key role in global sustainability challenges like food security and climate change, yet, many unknowns and large uncertainties prevail. We present a systematic, spatially explicit assessment of uncertainties related to grazing intensity (GI), a key metric for assessing ecological impacts of grazing, by combining existing datasets on a) grazing feed intake, b) the spatial distribution of livestock, c) the extent of grazing land, and d) its net primary productivity (NPP). An analysis of the resulting 96 maps implies that on average 15% of the grazing land NPP is consumed by livestock. GI is low in most of worlds grazing lands but hotspots of very high GI prevail in 1% of the total grazing area. The agreement between GI maps is good on one fifth of the world's grazing area, while on the remainder it is low to very low. Largest uncertainties are found in global drylands and where grazing land bears trees (e.g., the Amazon basin or the Taiga belt). In some regions like India or Western Europe massive uncertainties even result in GI > 100% estimates. Our sensitivity analysis indicates that the input-data for NPP, animal distribution and grazing area contribute about equally to the total variability in GI maps, while grazing feed intake is a less critical variable. We argue that a general improvement in quality of the available global level datasets is a precondition for improving the understanding of the role of livestock systems in the context of global environmental change or food security. Plain Language SummaryLivestock systems play a key role in global sustainability challenges like food security and climate change, yet, many unknowns and large uncertainties prevail. We present a systematic assessment of uncertainties related to the intensity of grazing, a key metric for assessing ecological impacts of grazing. We combine existing datasets on a) grazing feed intake, b) the spatial distribution of livestock, c) the extent of grazing land, and d) the biomass available for grazing. Our results show that most grasslands are used with low intensity but hotspots of high intensity prevail on 1% of the global grazing area, mainly located in drylands and where grazing land bears trees. The agreement between all maps is good on one fifth of the global grazing area, while on the remainder it is low to very low. Our sensitivity analysis indicates that the input-data for available biomass, animal distribution and grazing area contribute about equally to the total variability of our maps, while grazing feed intake is a less critical variable. We argue that a general improvement in quality of the available datasets is a precondition for improving the understanding of livestock systems in the context of global environmental change or food security.

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Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector

Cited by 762 publications

References 76 publications

The environmental sustainability of insects as food and feed. A review

The environmental sustainability of insects as food and feed. A review

Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensities for the Livestock Sector in Indonesia, Based on the National Specific Data

Quantification of uncertainties in global grazing systems assessment

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