Dear Friends and Colleagues
Cutting Industrial Meat and Dairy Production Essential to
Tackling Climate Crisis
If we did everything currently prescribed to stop climate
change (stop extracting and burning fossil fuels, convert to renewable
energies, etc.) except cut back on industrial meat, the planet would still be
in danger of the ‘cataclysmic’ warming scenario of 4ºC by the
end of the century, according to the NGOs GRAIN and IATP. The global rise in
meat and dairy consumption is projected to grow by 76% and 65% respectively by
2050. This would eat
up the entire climate emissions budget set for 2050 in the Paris
Agreement.
Industrial livestock production is responsible for massive
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (14.5%) from fossil fuels, fertilizers, manure
and large-scale deforestation and land degradation. Nearly half is in the form
of methane, a gas 30 times more warming than carbon dioxide. In contrast, over
600 million small-scale farmers and 200 million herders feed billions of people
every day with quality meat, dairy and eggs in a sustainable manner and bring
benefits such as improved soil health, greater climatic resilience and other
environmental and public health benefits.
Cutting production of industrial meat and redirecting
support to smallholder systems and integrated agroecological methods are
essential to tackling the climate crisis. Solutions can, however, only be
effective if they address the formidable power of the global meat and dairy
industry:
(1) Redirect the subsidies: Public subsidies, credits
and other fiscal support measures for massive industrial meat and dairy
facilities should be terminated and redirected to support small farmers that
use integrated agroecological and pastoral production methods, and to help
larger farmers transition towards these practices.
(2) Divest from industrial meat and dairy: Banks and
other institutional investors must account for the true carbon costs and
climate risks of their agribusiness investments and divest from companies that
harm the climate.
(3) Stop and rollback so-called free trade and investment
deals: Trade and investment agreements, like the Trans Pacific Partnership
(TPP), which enable the dumping of cheap meat, dairy and feed must be replaced
with initiatives that allow communities and countries to grow their local
markets.
(4) Reduce meat consumption, eliminate over-consumption: If
the places with excessive per capita consumption limited consumption to the
World Health Organization’s recommended level, global GHG emissions would
decline by 40%.
A key strategy is to make industrial meat and dairy more expensive and
reflective of their true costs by lifting subsidies, regulating the industry
and introducing fiscal measures.
(5) Support small scale production and local markets: Policies
and programmes should focus on supporting and protecting small scale producers
and the local markets that they supply. Rebuild decentralized food systems.
With best wishes,
Third World Network
131 Jalan Macalister
10400 Penang
Malaysia
Email: twn@twnetwork.org
Websites: http://www.twn.my/andhttp://www.biosafety-info.net/
To subscribe to other TWN information services: www.twnnews.net ____________________________________________________________________________
TWO WAYS TO TACKLE LIVESTOCK'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE
CLIMATE CRISIS
GRAIN and IATP
25 April 2017
https://www.grain.org/article/entries/5692-two-ways-to-tackle-livestock-s-contribution-to-the-climate-crisis
- Transition away from industrial meat and dairy
- Redirect support to smallholder systems
The Issue
We cannot address climate change without reducing the
production and consumption of industrial meat and dairy.
Industrial livestock is a major cause of climate change
- The global food system accounts for 29% of
today’s global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, say scientists, with meat
and dairy responsible for most of
it.
- Livestock now generate more GHG
emissions than all the world’s transport combined. Nearly half is in the
form of methane, a gas 30 times more effective than carbon dioxide at
trapping heat in our atmosphere but quick to disappear once we stop
producing it.
- 80
per cent of the current growth of the global meat and dairy
industry comes from the expansion of factory farms, hastened by corporate
consolidation and vertical integration across the world. In 2015,
just five
companies (JBS, Tyson, Cargill, National Beef and Marfrig)
accounted for 20% of the world
beef production.
- If we did everything currently prescribed to stop climate
change (stop extracting and burning fossil fuels, convert to renewable
energies, etc.) except cut back on industrial meat, the planet would still
be in danger of the ‘cataclysmic’ warming scenario of 4ºC by
the end of the century.
To be clear, the problem is industrial meat and dairy
- Industrial livestock production is responsible for massive
GHG emissions from fossil fuels, fertilizers, manure and large-scale
deforestation and land degradation.
- It generates numerous
other impacts including environmental pollution, exploitation of
workers, destruction of small family farms, abuse of millions of animals
and global health emergencies, such as antibiotic
resistance and avian flu.
- Technological fixes could reduce no more than 30% of
current livestock emissions, according to the most optimistic FAO
scenario. A system change is imperative.
- Industrial meat and milk is kept artificially cheap
through public funds and policies that externalize their real costs and
prop up a continuous cycle of surplus production and trade.
- Cutting production of industrial meat is therefore
essential to tackling the climate crisis, including by changing
demand-side dynamics that stress improved
diets and reducing food waste.
Consumption must be addressed
- The global rise in meat and dairy consumption is projected
to grow by 76 and 65 per cent respectively by 2050. If not dramatically
reduced, this would result in eating
up the entire climate emissions budget set for 2050 in the Paris
Agreement.
- Per capita meat consumption continues to be highest in
North America, Brazil and the EU and is growing rapidly in Asia. If
countries with excessive per capita consumption limited consumption to the
World Health Organisation’s recommended level, global GHG emissions would
decline by 40
per cent.
- Most countries in the Global South have low levels of per
capita meat and dairy consumption, but their urban middle classes are
increasingly adhering to Western style diets, including excessive meat and
dairy. Foreign food companies, fast food chains and supermarkets target
these countries for growth.
And yet, small-scale farmers, herders and pastoralists
are often blamed
- Corporate lobby groups, scientists and development
agencies often paint small-scale livestock holders in poor countries as
the climate culprits because of their animals’ low “efficiency” in
converting calories to meat or milk on a per capita basis
- Yet, a narrow focus on efficiency and emissions intensity
ignores the multiple benefits of mixed, multifunctional and biodiverse
small-scale livestock production systems. These include improving soil
health, greater climatic resilience and other positive environmental and
public health benefits.
- Small-scale meat and dairy production is already well
tailored to local food systems that support the moderate meat and dairy
consumption levels that the rest of the world must achieve.
The Solution
Solutions can only be effective if they address the
formidable power of the global meat and dairy complex.
Redirect the subsidies
- Industrial meat and dairy production is propped up by an
enormous amount of taxpayer dollars—around $53
billion from OECD governments alone in 2013. China and Brazil
also channel significant public funds into the growth of their own
transnational meat and dairy corporations.
- Public subsidies, credits and other fiscal support
measures for massive industrial meat and dairy facilities, such as the
proposed 20,000
cow farm in Spain, should be inventoried on an annual basis and
terminated.
- Public funds should instead be directed to support small
farmers that use integrated agroecological and pastoral production
methods, and to help larger farmers transition towards these practices.
- Support should also go to building or rehabilitating local
infrastructures (abattoirs, milk and meat processing, roads, sanitation,
etc.) that help local livestock and dairy markets thrive.
Divest from industrial meat and dairy
- Meat and dairy corporations have a vested interest in
increasing the consumption and production of industrial meat and dairy and
have repeatedly blocked government
actions that would undercut demand for their products.
- Banks and other institutional investors must account for
the true carbon costs and climate risks of their agribusiness investments
and divest from companies that harm the climate.
- Rather than incentivizing factory farm expansion and the
industrial model through carbon credits and carbon offsets, climate funds
should be directed towards the greater resilience of agro-pastoral systems
by supporting integrated agroecological methods and their proliferation.
- Meat and dairy companies and their lobby groups must be
prevented from undue influence on decision making in the public interest,
including through stricter rules on campaign finance and preventing
conflict of interest in government and intergovernmental advisory bodies.
- Public-private partnerships to promote large-scale,
intensive livestock farming should be eliminated.
Stop and rollback so-called free trade and investment
deals
Trade and investment agreements, like the Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP), expand markets for the global meat and dairy
complex. They enable the dumping of cheap meat, dairy and feed and prevent the
use of policies that promote local suppliers, as well as regulations that
disincentivize this model. For example:
- 70 million dairy farms in India face
immediate import threats from the RCEP trade deal being negotiated with
the dairy powerhouse New Zealand, which exports cheap milk powder;
- herders and pastoralists from Senegal to South
Africa could lose their livelihoods due to European Partnership
Agreements trade deals now being ratified between their governments and
the EU, as these will promote dumping of cheap dairy from Europe onto
their markets;
- · the
Trade in Services Agreement now being negotiated by 48 countries may
prevent governments from taking measures to reduce livestock climate
emissions; and
- deregulation of food safety, GMO approvals and
environmental and public health rules that interfere with corporate
profits through the TPP, CETA and TTIP will
hamstring future efforts to regulate and reform these industries.
These deals must be stopped and replaced with initiatives
that allow communities and countries to grow their local markets in cooperation
and mutual support.
Reduce meat consumption, eliminate over-consumption
- It is crucial to work toward a reduction of industrial
meat and dairy, especially red meat, in the hotspots of over consumption
such as North America, Europe, Brazil and China. This can be encouraged by
revising and promoting national dietary guidelines and giving them the
teeth of enforceability.
- A key strategy to achieve this is to make industrial meat
and dairy more expensive and reflective of their true costs by lifting
subsidies, regulating the industry and introducing fiscal measures.
However, these measures must be executed in a way that does not penalise
lower income consumers or small-scale producers.
- Public education programmes and media campaigns are
necessary to help people understand what is at stake and encourage
collective action. This is not about individual choices but the need for
systemic change with a strong role for public and citizen-led initiatives.
- Public sector institutions (schools, hospitals, etc.)
should proactively cut industrial meat and dairy from their menus and
source proteins from short supply chains and small-scale sustainable
suppliers. The School
District of Oakland in the U.S. has recently tested such a scheme
with great success, saving $42,000 in the process.
Support small scale production and local markets
- There are over 600 million small-scale farmers and 200
million herders who depend on livestock for their livelihoods and who feed
billions of people every day with quality meat, dairy and eggs in a
sustainable manner. They urgently need public attention and support!
- Policies and programmes should focus on supporting and
protecting small scale producers and the local markets that they supply.
- Livestock producers should be supported to move to
agroecological production methods, including rotational grazing and soil
management measures, that help cut greenhouse gas emissions.
- We need to invest in community-led projects and
initiatives that seek to proliferate such practices and rebuild
decentralized food systems.
This fact sheet is based on GRAIN, "Grabbing the bull by the horns:
it’s time to cut industrial meat and dairy to save the climate," January
2017, and IATP research on
industrial-meat.
For more information, see GRAIN and IATP
You
can download the factsheet here
