Sufferer and cause: Indian livestock and climate change (original) (raw)
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Vulnerability of the Livestock Sector in Changing Climate Conditions: A Case from India
International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 2017
In India, livestock sector plays an important role in socioeconomic development of rural households. Over 70 percent of the country's rural households own livestock and a majority of livestock owning households are small, marginal, and landless farmers. The reality of climate change and the fact that life in the poorest and vulnerable economies will be worst affected is set to have far-reaching consequence on the animal and its owners. At the same time, livestock have always shouldered a portion of the blame for rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, recent extensive scientific evidence and report by FAO and universities in the US has brought to light the fact that the large GHG emission figure of livestock emission was big data hype. The developed countries play clever by shifting blame for anthropogenic GHG emission away from the fossil fuel based power generation, transportation, industries and lifestyle of the global North to activities in developing countries such as paddy cultivation and animal husbandry.
Impact of Climate Change on Livestock Production: A Review
Climate change is seen as a major threat to the survival of many species, ecosystems and the sustainability of livestock production systems in many parts of the world. Green house gases (GHG) are released in the atmosphere both by natural sources and anthropogenic (human related) activities. An attempt has been made in this article to understand the contribution of ruminant livestock to climate change and to identify the mitigation strategies to reduce enteric methane emission in livestock. In Indian subcontinent, heat stress is the most important climatic stress. Heat stress adversely affecting productive and reproductive performance of livestock, and hence reducing the total area where high yielding dairy cattle may be economically reared. The livestock sector which will be a sufferer of climate change is itself a large source of methane emissions contributing about 18% of total enteric methane budget. Ruminant livestock such as cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats contributes the major proportion of total agricultural emission of methane .In India, although the emission rate per animal is much lower than the developed countries, due to vast livestock population the total annual methane emissions from Indian livestock ranged from 7.26 to 10.4 MT/year. In India more than 90% of the total methane emission from enteric fermentation is being contributed by the large ruminants (cattle and buffalo) and rest from small ruminants and others. Generally CH4 reduction strategies can be grouped under two broad categories such as management and nutritional strategies. Although the reduction in GHG emissions from livestock industries are seen as high priorities, strategies for reducing emissions should not reduce the economic viability of enterprises if they are to find industry acceptability.
Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2018
Two climate metrics, Global surface Temperature Change Potential (GTP) and the Absolute GTP (AGTP) are used for studying the global surface temperature impact of CH 4 emission from livestock in India. The impact on global surface temperature is estimated for 20 and 100 year time frames due to CH 4 emission. The results show that the CH 4 emission from livestock, worked out to 15.3 Tg in 2012. In terms of climate metrics GTP of livestock-related CH 4 emission in India in 2012 were 1030 Tg CO 2 e (GTP 20) and 62 Tg CO 2 e (GTP 100) at the 20 and 100 year time horizon, respectively. The study also illustrates that livestock-related CH 4 emissions in India can cause a surface temperature increase of up to 0.7 mK and 0.036 mK over the 20 and 100 year time periods, respectively. The surface temperature response to a year of Indian livestock emission peaks at 0.9 mK in the year 2021 (9 years after the time of emission). The AGTP gives important information in terms of temperature change due to annual CH 4 emissions, which is useful when comparing policies that address multiple gases.
Climate Change and Agriculture, 2019
Indian livestock farming is one of the significant anthropogenic sources of methane (CH 4) in the world. Here, CH 4 emission from Indian livestock and climate change impact in terms of two climate metrics, global surface temperature change potential (GTP) and absolute GTP (AGTP), to assess the surface temperature changes for 20 and 100 year time frame have been studied. CH 4 emission from Indian livestock was 15.3 Tg in 2012. GTP 20 and GTP 100 for livestock-related CH 4 emission in India in 2012 were 1030 and 62 Tg CO 2 e, respectively. The study also illustrates that CH 4 emissions can cause a surface temperature increase of up to 0.7-0.036 mK over the 20 and 100 year time periods, respectively. Thus, the negative climate change impact is global in nature, not only restricted to India. GTP and AGTP can be used in climate change impact study and as a more policy relevant tool.
International Journal of Novel Research in Interdisciplinary Studies, 2019
India is second most populated country in the world, where the majority of rural population is still dependent on agriculture for their livelihood and over 600 million farmers are involved in agriculture related activities. Agriculture and allied activities contribute about 13.9% to the gross domestic product of India. India has 52% of cultivable land and varied climates. With arable land area of 168 million hectares, India ranks second only to the U.S. in size of agricultural area. India, a developing nation quite vulnerable to climate change, can also cause tremendous impact on world food demand. This study seek to understand how the severity of climatic effect (most vulnerable regions or states) in particular regions in India caused drastic reduction in agriculture production and growth rate of yield and analyse the rate of agricultural production decrease due the climate change in some selected regions of India
Impact of Global Warming on livestock production and health
2014
India has one of the largest cattle population in the world and also has an over increasing livestock population. The reason for increase in the greenhouse gases is not only the over exploitation of natural resources, but livestock also play a role in this by emanating methane due to rumen microbial fermentation. In this climate change era, need is to evolve scientific, technological, economic and political solutions to address the challenges in the animal busbandry sector.
The higher growth in livestock sector has been observed during last 2 decades on account of market forces, technological change, increased availability of feed and fodders, investment in animal health, and development of marketing network for livestock products (Upadhyay 2010). The phenomenon of global climate change occurring due to GHG emissions has also been directly affecting the livestock production system world over. The adverse effect of excessive heat load (heat stress) on productive and reproductive performance include reduced feed intake, decreased general activity, increased selection of shade, lower growth and conception rates, increased respiratory and heart rates, panting activity, increased peripheral blood flow and sweating. These effects are well documented (Lal
Review on: Livestock Production and Global Climate Change
Journal of environment and earth science, 2016
Livestock productions are changing rapidly in response to a variety of drivers as human population is expected to increase from around 6.5 billion today to 9.2 billion by 2050. This paper reviews on livestock production and global climate change. The effect of climate on animal production is categorized in to four ways: (a) the impact of changes in livestock feed availability and price; (b) impacts on livestock pastures and forage crop production and quality; (c) changes in the distribution of livestock diseases and pests; and (d) the direct effects of weather and extreme events on animal health, growth and reproduction. Livestock and livestock-related activities such as deforestation and increasingly fuel-intensive farming practices are responsible for over 18% of human-made greenhouse gas emissions, including: 9% of global carbon dioxide emissions, 35-40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to enteric fermentation and manure), 64% of global nitrous oxide emissions (chiefly du...
Livestock Management under Changing Climate Scenario in India
World Journal of Veterinary Science, 2013
Animal agriculture is a major contributor to climate change through various elements like air temperature, humidity, wind velocity, solar radiation and other factors. Heat is the major constraint in tropical and sub tropical climatic conditions which negatively affects production and reproduction of livestock species. Alterations of temperature and humidity profile may alter the productivity, reproductive efficiency and may aggravate the spread of disease and parasites into new regions. The current review have been framed to provide more insight into the effect of climate change on livestock production in India and how to alleviate the expected thorny picture of livestock production system. Climate can affect livestock both directly and indirectly. Livestock production is not only affected by climate change but also contributes to the cause. Greenhouse gas emissions by the livestock sector could be cut by as much as 30 percent through the wider use of existing best practices and technologies. Livestock production system is expected to be exposed to many challenges due to climate change in India. Climate change through raised temperature, humidity and solar radiation may alter the physiology of livestock, reducing production and reproductive efficiency of both male and female and altered morbidity and mortality rates. Options for alleviating heat stress include adjusting animals' diets to minimize diet-induced thermogenesis (low fibre and low protein) or by increasing nutrient concentration in the feed to compensate for lower intake; taking measures to protect the animals from excessive heat load (shading/improving ventilation by using fans) or enhance heat loss from their bodies (Sprinklers/misters); or genetic selection for heat tolerance or bringing in types of animals that already have good heat tolerance. Livestock production and its economic efficiency depend on quantity and quality of feed and water that animals need to survive, produce and reproduce. In production systems where animals are fed on concentrates, rising grain prices (may be driven by climate change) increase the pressure to use animals that efficiently convert grains into meat, eggs or milk. The geographical and seasonal distributions of many infectious diseases, particularly vector borne, as well as those of many parasites and pests of various kinds are affected by climate. Different managemental options for reducing the effect of thermal stress are genetic approach, nutritional adjustments, managemental interventions, adequate water supply, providing feed to the animals during cool period, stocking density, provision of vegetative cover over the surrounding area, adequate ventilation, revival of common property resources (CPRs), intensive fodder production systems, use of unconventional resources as feed, etc.
Impact of climate change on agriculture: An Indian perspective
India is the seventh largest country of the world. In India temperature will increase 3oC to 6oC and rainfall will increase 15-30% in 21 Centaury. While the global surface temperature is projected to increase by 1-4oC from 2100 for low emission scenario and 2.5-5.8oC for higher emission scenario in the atmosphere. This Paper has been prepared with the objects of provide key information on the impacts of climate on Indian agriculture. The greenhouses gas emissions increases day by day in the atmosphere from the many sources such as industrial sources crop production and fossil fuel combustion. These are the major sources for the climate change. The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture. Currently Available general circulation models (GCMs) suggest that the area-averaged annual mean warming would be about 3°C in the decade of the 2050s and about 5°C in the decade of the 2080s over the land regions of Asia as a result of future increases in atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. In Rajasthan, a 2°C rise in temperature was estimated to reduce production of pearl millet by 10-15 per cent (Y S Ramakrishna et al.,). The state of Madhya Pradesh, where soybean is grown on 77 per cent of all agricultural land, could dubiously benefit from an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.