Livestock production and food security in a context of climate change , and environmental and health challenges (original) (raw)
Use of livestock resources for food security in the light of climate change
2017
Livestock are essential for food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa. They serve multiple purposes and are economically important, contributing 20–40% of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) – in some countries, up to 80%. Globally, by 2050, food production of animal origin is expected to double, to meet rising demand due to population growth and increased consumption in developing countries.1
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 and Global Climate Change
2008
Livestock production occupies 70% of agricultural land, and 30% of the ice-free land surface of the planet! It is responsible for 40% of global agricultural GDP, and is both a contributor to global environmental problems, and part of the solution. Global demand for livestock products is expected to double during the first half of this century, as a result of the growing human population, and its growing affluence. Over the same period, we expect big changes in the climate globally. The dramatic expansion of crop production for biofuels is already impacting on the resources available globally for food production, and hence on food supply and cost. Food security remains one of the highest priority issues in developing countries, and livestock production has a key role in many of these countries. However, food security is re-emerging as an important issue in many developed countries that had previously regarded it as 'solved'. These interconnected issues are creating immense pressure on the planet's resources. We need high quality animal science to help meet rising demand for livestock products in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Against this backdrop, the conference organisers felt that there was an urgent need to bring interested parties together to review the latest scientific findings on predictions of climate change and how these will affect livestock production, to examine the contribution that livestock production makes to these changes and how it can help to mitigate them, to consider how livestock production systems can adapt to climate change, and to consider future scientific priorities to help in these areas. The very strong international line-up of presenters confirms our view of the timeliness and importance of the subject. We hope that all delegates will engage fully with presenters, and each other, to ensure that we all leave with a much clearer vision of the livestock and production systems that we need in future, and the science and technology interaction we need to help us realise that vision. We are very grateful to the Government of Tunisia for hosting this important event, and we are pleased that Tunisia, a country of openness and understanding, in which the international scientific community can address the challenges that climate change brings to our planet is a most appropriate venue. Our partners and hosts in Tunisia have worked tirelessly to ensure a successful conference, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources and Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The choice of Tunisia as the location for this conference was partly to allow others to learn from the experience of those already used to coping with extreme climatic events. We are confident that the mix of scientists, practitioners and policy makers from so many different regions will prove very stimulating. We are also very grateful indeed to the sponsors of this meeting, whose support has enabled such wide participation.
Climate Change and Livestock Production: A Literature Review
Atmosphere, 2022
Globally, the climate is changing, and this has implications for livestock. Climate affects livestock growth rates, milk and egg production, reproductive performance, morbidity, and mortality, along with feed supply. Simultaneously, livestock is a climate change driver, generating 14.5% of total anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Herein, we review the literature addressing climate change and livestock, covering impacts, emissions, adaptation possibilities, and mitigation strategies. While the existing literature principally focuses on ruminants, we extended the scope to include non-ruminants. We found that livestock are affected by climate change and do enhance climate change through emissions but that there are adaptation and mitigation actions that can limit the effects of climate change. We also suggest some research directions and especially find the need for work in developing country settings. In the context of climate change, adaptation measures are pivotal to sust...
It is true that most proportions of Africans livestock production and productivities are declined when the climate condition is not comfortable. Therefore this review was conducted to show the impacts of climate change on livestock production and productivities. The climate change especially global warming may highly influence production performance of farm animals throughout the world. While there has been occasional mention, in the global discussion on climate change there has generally been a dearth of attention paid to the animal production and productivities impacts of the proposed abatement options and some of the suggested livestock management approaches would have severe and wide-ranging impacts on the animal's products. This is on the background that the impact of climate change on crops is well known, much less is known about the impact of climate change on livestock. Unfortunately, livestock production and productivities assumes an overriding emphasis as one of the co...
Climate Change Impacts on Livestock Production Systems: A Review
Annals of Tropical Research, 2014
The socio-economic contribution of livestock production to global livelihood and food security offsets its negative effects on the environment through greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Livestocks are emitters of GHGs, carbon dioxide (CO2) from land conversion and deforestation, nitrous oxide (N2O) from manure and slurry, and methane (CH4) from animal digestion which significantly contribute to climate change. Climate change has both direct and indirect impacts on animal farming. Thus, the main concern nowadays is toward the development of programs for adaptation and mitigation of GHG emissions. This review provides knowledge about climate change impacts on livestock production systems with the identification of strategies for livestock adaptation to climate change and mitigation of GHG emissions.
Preventing the climate change effect in livestock production
2013
Contemporary livestock production, based on intensive methods of feeding and housing, could be a source of various adverse effects on the natural environment. These are both of local and global scope. The latter, broader importance is associated with the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). The issues pertaining to their emissions cover three areas: mitigation, sequestration, and adaptation. Of Poland’s total GHG emissions agriculture accounts for 8.5% ( 34787.73 Gg eq. CO2). Within the animal production sector, the reduction of GHG emissions may be obtained by methods associated with feeding, breeding, and technological measures. The feeding methods that have great potential for reducing emissions are principally not ready yet, and they are among more expensive methods, bearing a major risk of increased costs of production. The breeding methods happen to be the cheapest because they are implemented by continuous progress in breeding aimed at increased effectiveness of production. H...
Impact of climate change on livestock
ABESTRACT The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) acknowledges climate change as one of the factors affecting rural poverty and as one of the challenges it needs to address. While climate change is a global phenomenon, its negative impacts are more severely felt by poor people in developing countries who rely heavily on the natural resource base for their livelihoods. Agriculture and livestock keeping are amongst the most climate-sensitive economic sectors and rural poor communities are more exposed to the effects of climate change. Livestock production occupies 70% of agricultural land, and 30% of the ice-free land surface of the planet! It is responsible for 40% of global agricultural GDP, and is both a contributor to global environmental problems, and part of the solution. Climate can affect livestock both directly and indirectly (Adams et al., 1999, McCarthy et al., 2001). Direct effects from air temperature, humidity, wind speed and other climate factors influence animal performance such as growth, milk production, wool production and reproduction. Climate can also affect the quantity and quality of feedstuffs such as pasture, forage and grain, and the severity and distribution of livestock diseases and parasites. Global demand for livestock products is expected to double during the first half of this century, as a result of the growing human population, and its growing affluence. Over the same period, we expect big changes in the climate globally. The dramatic expansion of crop production for biofuels is already impacting on the resources available globally for food production, and hence on food supply and cost. Food security remains one of the highest priority issues in developing countries, and livestock production has a key role in many of these countries. However, food security is re-emerging as an important issue in many developed countries that had previously regarded it as 'solved'. These interconnected issues are creating immense pressure on the planet's resources. The IPCC predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8°C and 4.0°C. With increases of 1.5°C to 2.5°C, approximately 20 to 30 per cent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction (FAO, 2007) with severe consequences for food security in developing countries. Responses to climate change include (i) adaptation, to reduce the vulnerability of people and ecosystems to climatic changes, and (ii) mitigation, to reduce the magnitude of climate change impact in the long term. However, neither adaptation nor mitigation alone can offset all climate change impacts. To respond to this threat it will be necessary to focus both on mitigation, to reduce the level of emission of gases contributing to global warming, and on adaptation, to support local communities in dealing with the impacts.