Livestock

The issue of the livestock-climate connection has catalyzed a debate not only about whether and to what extent we should consume animal protein like meat and dairy, but what kind of system of livestock production is more sustainable from a greenhouse gas perspective if and when we do choose to continue consuming it.

For the carbon conscious consumer pained at the thought of giving up his or her Sunday roast or morning milk for coffee and cereal, what are the alternatives to an animal-free diet?

As the world gears up for the climate talks in Copenhagen next month, the mainstream media is overlooking one important climate change contributor, and it isn’t coal or cars.

Three years ago, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations released a lengthy report entitled “Livestock’s Long Shadow.” Among the plethora of environmental problems the livestock industry is accused of contributing to — water pollution, habit fragmentation and desertification of arable land among them — climate change figured prominently.

In particular, the report concluded that livestock production accounts for 18%, or one-fifth, of global emissions. This figure is higher than all transportation sources combined.

As climate change alters the African landscape, making some parts of the continent unsuitable for agriculture, raising camels could supplant crops and other livestock in the hardest hit areas, a study from the International Livestock Research Institute suggests.

Environmental scientist Philip K. Thornton is serious about that recommendation.

In parts of the arid and semi-arid regions of West, East and southern Africa, increasingly inadequate rainfall already causes crops to fail one out of every six years – a rate that is increasing as global warming takes its toll.

By 2050, between 500,000 and 1 million square kilometers of Africa could fall below the crop threshold of 90 reliable of days of moisture, according to a series of computer models that take into account potential impacts from climate change.

Where impacts are most severe, switching from cropping to herding may be the only salvation.

Thornton’s research suggests that raising drought-hardy camels could be a viable option for some 20 million to 35 million people living in scattered areas about the size of Egypt that will likely become so arid by 2050 that raising food will be virtually impossible. It could also be more lucrative than people realize.