Most of us have heard the statistics about how livestock are bad for the climate and the environment: within agriculture, livestock production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions; over-grazing can harm wildlife habitats and reduce biodiversity; even the burps from ruminants like cows and sheep are problematic, as they belch methane, which is 28 times more potent at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Western donors and policymakers may hear those statistics and conclude that in order to end world hunger while mitigating climate change, livestock will have to go. But hold that thought.
“Especially in developing countries, livestock are crucial for people’s livelihoods,” said Isabelle Baltenweck, Program Leader of the Policies, Institutions and Livelihoods Program at the International Livestock Research Institute.
“In these areas where we see significant hunger, livestock are integrated into the farm production: the cow creates manure, which fertilizes the maize, which both the humans and the livestock eat. Livestock is a key piece of maintaining this system.”
Certainly, consumers in developed countries could do with fewer animal products: the meat-heavy U.S. diet, for example, takes up almost twice as much land and produces twice as much greenhouse gas as the average world diet.
But for the estimated 690 million people who are undernourished, livestock are a safety net. Baltenweck leads the Livestock Feed Solutions research team for Ceres2030, a collaboration between Cornell University, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and the International Food Policy Research Institute. The project has undertaken a unique and massive effort to evaluate existing agricultural literature to find the most effective interventions to help smallholder farmers and end hunger. Funded by the German government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the goal of Ceres2030 is to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending global hunger by 2030.
