Impact of Cow Milk Production from Latin America on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (original) (raw)

The lack of research from a Latin American perspective on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from cow milk production hinders the design of specific policies that will tackle the problems in this region. The present paper intends to fill in this gap by analyzing statistical information from FAOSTAT, with the aim to find the specific problems that contribute to GHG emissions from Latin America. The main objective of this paper is to review estimates of GHG emissions from dairy production from Latin America, so that more informed decisions in the face of climate change. Results show that milk production does not have such an important effect on GHG production than meat production. On the other hand, countries that import meat may consider the ecological footprint of their meat consumption, since it is an important contributor to GHG production.