Animals in agriculture has been integral in the development of civilization. They are used for many purposes from ploughing the fields to using manure as biofertilizers. As the industrial revolution accelerated in 19th century, the animal agriculture industry caught up with the same mechanized process to manufacture livestock. In the 1900s, the impacts of industries on climate change had surfaced and raised concern, especially in the 1970s with the rise in environmentalism. Only in late 1980s did the world began getting anxious the climate issue.
But it was only the publication of’ Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Option’ in 2006, a United Nations report, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, that the impacts of animal agriculture could on the environment came onto the surface. The climate activists have been vocal about the fact that their diets have one of the biggest impacts on climate change.
To explain about the impacts of animal agriculture, we had hosted Dipesh Shrestha of Kathmandu Animal Save and Shristi Shrestha of Jane Goodall Institute, Animal Nepal and People’s Alliance for Nature Nepal (PANN) to an episode of Debunking Myths: Animal Agriculture and Sustainability. It was organized virtually on Zoom on August 9, 2021. Through their presentations, we learned about in details regarding the relationship between animals and the planet.
The one of the reasons animal agricultures is unsustainable is because it contributes to 14-18% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which is more than the entire transportation industry according to the UN FAO. The more alarming detail is that 37% of these emissions are methane that is 20-30 times more potent than carbon dioxide and 65% of these is nitrous oxide that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The 63 billion farmed animals produce 450 tons of animal waste every year. Furthermore, farmed animals consume 40-50% of all grains produced while these grains could have been sued to feed the hungry as 25,000 people die of hunger every day. Forests are often cleared to make room for land to grow animal feed such as soy and corn such as in the where it contributes to 91% of the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
But asking to move towards a meat and dairy free diet could mean endangering the livelihood of many Nepalis. Predominantly an agricultural country, animal agriculture contributes to 32% of Nepal’s agriculture GDP in Nepal and 11.5% of Nepal’s total GDP. Meanwhile huge investments are being made in Nepal with livestock being one of the highest recipients.
These were some of the facts we learned from the speakers but it got even interesting as the speakers answered questions from the audience. Watch the full video to learn more about animal agriculture as our speakers answers questions and debunk myths regarding animal agriculture and sustainability.
Check it out and have your say.