Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

1

LIVESTOCK AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Henning Steinfeld, FAO

Drivers, Impacts, Responses

Livestock-based options for sustainable food and nutritional security, economic well-being and healthy lives

ILRI@40 Conference

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 6–7 November 2014

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

2

What are the GLOBAL DRIVERS influencing livestock production?

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

3

RISING DEMAND FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

4

+ 70%2005 - 2050DEMAND FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTS

:

Source: FAO 2012

RISING DEMAND FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

5

2005 - 2050DEMAND FOR MEAT + 278%:

Source: FAO 2012

RISING DEMAND FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

6

Source: IPCC 2014

CLIMATE CHANGE

Projected Temperature Change

Difference from 1986-2005 mean (°C)

Highest Temperature ProjectionsLowest Temperature Projections

Higher temperatures, shifting rainfalls, variabilitySmallholders and pastoralists to suffer most

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

7

Limited land for agricultural expansion

1/3 of arable land for feed crops

Water scarcity

Energy

Nutrients

RESOURCE SCARCITY

Land degradation

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

8

RESOURCE SCARCITY

6.4 billion tons DM of livestock feed

* Cassava, beans and soybeans** Bran, oilseed meals, pulp, molasses and wet distiller grains

Source: FAO, GLEAM

Tree leaves3%

Fresh grass and hay

39%

Grass legumes and sillages

3%

Swill1%

Crop residues26%

Agricultural by-products**

8%

Grains9%

Second grade crops unfit for human

consumption2%

Other edible*9%

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

9

What are the IMPACTS ?

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

10

Growing constraints to access grazing and water resources

High GHG emissions per unit of protein produced…

…but many other products: livestock as saving/insurance, economic activity, social role

DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND DIFFERENT PURPOSES

Cattle herd, Ferlo, Senegal

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

11

Global chain, imported feed

Lower GHG emissions per unit of protein produced…

… but other environmental impacts: nutrient pollution, potential land use change associated with imported feed, impacts on biodiversity

DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND DIFFERENT PURPOSES

Pig farm, Chonburi, Thailand

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

12

Resources: ~ 50% of roughages, 20% of silage, 30% of concentrates

High productivity: 20% of the global number of dairy cows, 73% of the global milk production

Main sources of emissions: enteric fermentation, manure, fossil energy use

DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND DIFFERENT PURPOSES

Dairy production, OECD countries

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

13

Grass-fed systems are dominant

6.7% of slaughtered animals were fed in feedlots

Land use and land use change is the main source of emissions, with an impact on other environmental criteria (biodiversity)

DIFFERENT SYSTEMS AND DIFFERENT PURPOSES

Beef production, Brazil

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

14

Strong relationship between productivity and emission intensity

CONTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

AGRICULTURE: 20 to 30 % of anthropogenic climate gases; 2/3 from livestock (7.1 GT CO2eq)Overriding role of ruminants

MOST IMPORTANT SOURCES:

• Enteric methane• Feed production• Animal waste• Land use

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

15

GHG EMISSIONS MITIGATION POTENTIAL

Large variability of emission Intensities within systems and regions

30% mitigation potential estimated through more efficient practices in resource use with existingtechnologies

Source: Gerber et al. (2013)

Emission intensity by commodity

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

16

GHG EMISSIONS

Emission intensities per kg of protein

Source: FAO, GLEAM

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

17

• Flexible resource users• Buffers for enhanced resilience

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

• Lower rainfall and higher temperatures• Changing disease patterns• Variability

LAND-BASED LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION MOST EXPOSED TO CC

LIVESTOCK ARE NATURAL ADAPTERS

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

18

NUTRIENT USE EFFICIENCY

Nutrient flow (nitrogen) in the beef production process(based on US and Netherlands national data)

Source: Leach et al. (2012)But: important role in nutrient cycling

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

19

• Water use: 29% of total agr. water use

• Impact on vegetation and water cycles – higher run-offs• Water pollution: local impacts in areas of high animal concentration

RESOURCE SCARCITY

LIVESTOCK AND WATER

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

20

LIVESTOCK AND BIODIVERSITY

EXTENT OF PASTURES: 26% OF ALL LAND – both positive and negative impacts

• Arable land use for feed and expansion• Aquatic systems (nutrient loading)• Positive roles

THREAT TO BIODIVERSITY IN 306 OF THE 825 ECOREGIONS

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

21

LAND SHARING VS. LAND SPARING

INTENSIVE FARMINGHigh productivity

UNFARMEDHigh species

density

LAND SPARING

FARMED EXTENSIVELYModerate species density and

productivity in a larger area

LAND SHARING

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

22

Agricultural intensity

Bio

div

ersi

ty

LAND SPARING IS BEST

LAND SHARING IS BEST

LAND SHARING VS. LAND SPARING

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

23

What are the RESPONSE OPTIONS ?

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

RESPONSES

• Efficiency of resource use – land, water, nutrients

• Emission intensity – CO2 eq per unit of product

• Sustainable intensification: feeds, genetics, health

• Reduce waste through recycling and recovering nutrients and energy

• Requires incentives, regulations and continuous innovation

INCREASE EFFICIENCY

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

25

• protect assets, enhance multiple functions of livestock in smallholder and pastoral systems

• Integrated landscape management (optimize contributions rather than maximizing output) for food, biodiversity, water, cultural values

• Address overconsumption – healthy diets

• Reduce food-feed competition

RESPONSES

ENHANCE LIVELIHOODS AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

• Limit livestock’s expansion into valuable eco-systems

• Integrated land use management (in particular in fragile eco-systems)

• Protect water resources

• Requires incentives and regulations

RESPONSES

PROTECT RESOURCES

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

• Of global commons (e.g. climate)

• Of local commons (e.g. communal grazing, water)

• Incentive schemes (payment for environmental services, carbon markets)

RESPONSES

INCREASE RESILIENCE

• Livestock as a tool of adaptation

• improve coping capacity with shocks

IMPROVE GOVERNANCE

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

SUMMARY

o Large environmental impact, negative and positive

o Context of growing demand, climate change and growing scarcities

o Diversity of systems, issues and responses

o Large potential to respond; social and economic co-benefits

o Requires pro-active policies, incentives and innovation

Meeting/Workshop title • place and date

Thank you

henning.steinfeld@fao.orgwww.livestockdialogue.org

Sustainable livestock. For people, for the planet