The carbon opportunity cost of animal-sourced food production on land (original) (raw)

References

  1. IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) (WMO and UNEP, 2019).
  2. Erb, K. H. et al. Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass. Nature 553, 73–76 (2018).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  3. Searchinger, T. D., Wirsenius, S., Beringer, T. & Dumas, P. Assessing the efficiency of changes in land use for mitigating climate change. Nature 564, 249–253 (2018).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  4. West, P. C. et al. Trading carbon for food: global comparison of carbon stocks vs. crop yields on agricultural land. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 19645–19648 (2010).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  5. Shepon, A., Eshel, G., Noor, E. & Milo, R. The opportunity cost of animal based diets exceeds all food losses. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713820115 (2018).
  6. Poore, J. & Nemecek, T. Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science 992, 987–992 (2018).
    Article Google Scholar
  7. Tilman, D. & Clark, M. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 515, 518–522 (2014).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  8. Springmann, M. et al. Health and nutritional aspects of sustainable diet strategies and their association with environmental impacts: a global modelling analysis with country-level detail. Lancet Planet. Health 2, e451–e461 (2018).
    Article Google Scholar
  9. Herrero, M. et al. Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector. Nat. Clim. Change 6, 452–461 (2016).
    Article Google Scholar
  10. Batchelor, J. L., Ripple, W. J., Wilson, T. M. & Painter, L. E. Restoration of riparian areas following the removal of cattle in the northwestern great basin. Environ. Manage. 55, 930–942 (2014).
    Article Google Scholar
  11. Sitters, J., Kimuyu, D. M., Young, T. P., Claeys, P. & Olde Venterink, H. Negative effects of cattle on soil carbon and nutrient pools reversed by megaherbivores. Nat. Sustain. 3, 360–366 (2020).
    Article Google Scholar
  12. Alexandratos, N. & Bruinsma, J. World Agriculture Towards 2030/2050: The 2012 Revision (FAO, 2012).
  13. Willett, W. et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet 6736, 3–49 (2019).
    Google Scholar
  14. IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) (WMO, 2018).
  15. Fry, J. P., Mailloux, N. A., Love, D. C., Milli, M. C. & Cao, L. Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly? Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 024017 (2018).
    Article Google Scholar
  16. Van Zanten, H. H. E. et al. Defining a land boundary for sustainable livestock consumption. Glob. Change Biol. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14321 (2018).
  17. Griscom, B. W. et al. Natural climate solutions. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 11645–11650 (2017).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  18. Randerson, J. T. et al. Multicentury changes in ocean and land contributions to the climate–carbon feedback. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 29, 744–759 (2015).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  19. Smith, P. et al. How much land-based greenhouse gas mitigation can be achieved without compromising food security and environmental goals? Glob. Change Biol. 19, 2285–2302 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  20. Schmidinger, K. & Stehfest, E. Including CO2 implications of land occupation in LCAs-method and example for livestock products. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 17, 962–972 (2012).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  21. Stehfest, E. et al. Climate benefits of changing diet. Clim. Change 95, 83–102 (2009).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  22. Ramankutty, N., Evan, A. T., Monfreda, C. & Foley, J. A. Farming the planet: 1. Geographic distribution of global agricultural lands in the year 2000. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 22, GB1003 (2008).
    Article Google Scholar
  23. Monfreda, C., Ramankutty, N. & Foley, J. A. Farming the planet: 2. Geographic distribution of crop areas, yields, physiological types, and net primary production in the year 2000. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 22, GB1022 (2008).
    Article Google Scholar
  24. Cassidy, E. S., West, P. C., Gerber, J. S. & Foley, J. A. Redefining agricultural yields: from tonnes to people nourished per hectare. Environ. Res. Lett. 8, 034015 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  25. Bouwman, A. F., Van der Hoek, K. W., Eickhout, B. & Soenario, I. Exploring changes in world ruminant production systems. Agric. Syst. 84, 121–153 (2005).
    Article Google Scholar
  26. Hansen, M. C. et al. High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change. Science 342, 850–853 (2013).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  27. Herrero, M. et al. Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 20888–20893 (2013).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  28. Erb, K. H. et al. Biomass turnover time in terrestrial ecosystems halved by land use. Nat. Geosci. 9, 674–678 (2016).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  29. Fetzel, T. et al. Quantification of uncertainties in global grazing systems assessment. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 31, 1089–1102 (2017).
    Article CAS Google Scholar

Download references