Livestock a major threat to environment: Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

• Position: 80% Less Energy - Report

November 2006, Rome. Which causes more greenhouse gas emissions, rearing cattle or driving cars? Surprise! According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in C[O.sub.2] equivalent--18%--than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation.

Says Henning Steinfeld, Chief of FAO's Livestock Information and Policy Branch and senior author of the report: "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation."

With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tons in 1999-2001 to 465 million tons in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tons.

Long shadow

The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector. It provides livelihoods to about 1.3 billion people and contributes about 40% to global agricultural output. For many poor farmers in developing countries livestock are also a source of renewable energy for draft and an essential source of organic fertilizer for their crops.

According to the FAO report, Livestock's Long Shadow--Environmental Issues and Options, "The environmental costs per unit of livestock production must be cut by one half, just to avoid the level of damage worsening beyond its present level."

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9% of C[O.sub.2] deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65% of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of C[O.sub.2]. Most of this comes from manure.

And it accounts for respectively 37% of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as C[O.sub.2]), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64% of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

Livestock now use 30% of the earth's entire land surface, mostly permanent pasture but also including 33% of the global arable land used to producing feed for livestock, the report notes. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America where, for example, some 70% of...