By Joao Meirelles and Maria Jose Barney Gonzalez
BELEN, Oct 10 2011 (IPS)

The livestock industry, particularly cattle production, is one of the world’s major contributors to climate change and has become the largest consumer of grain and plants as people in many parts of the world increase the amount of meat and dairy products in their diet. This, combined with unsustainable production practices, particularly in the Brazilian Amazon, could lead to the collapse of the Amazon forest biome and the environmental services it provides to balance the planet.

The 2009 report of the Food and Agricultural Organisation, “The State of Food and Agriculture”, recognises that the expansion of livestock production contributes 18 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has increased deforestation in some countries, while producing less than 2 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). This minor contribution to GDP takes up 26 percent of the earth’s ice-free land surface for grazing, and 33 percent of agricultural crop land growing the feed needed by livestock. There is pressure to double livestock production by 2050 from 228 to 463 million tonnes, which would mean an increase in the number of cattle of more than 73 percent.

Since the 1970s, the Brazilian government has implemented policies and provided subsidies to support cattle ranching. As part of this policy, Brazil’s Federal Investment Bank (BNDES) has spent more than USD 10 billion on the beef processing industry. Approximately 30 percent went towards loans, 60 percent for acquisitions (JBS/Friboi and Marfrig), the other 10 percent is for future acquisitions.

The traditional slash-and-burn practices used in the Amazon to steal land from the forest decreases its rich biodiversity and its ability to serve the planet, releasing massive emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere. Deforestation of the Amazon forest represents roughly 5-6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and constitutes 75 percent of Brazil’s considerable carbon footprint.

By 2009, approximately 74 million hectares -or 15 percent of the Brazilian Amazon- had been deforested, an area the size of Germany, Austria, and Italy combined. More than 91 percent of this land is used for cattle pasture.

Beef is an expensive food to produce, but its price does not reflect the real costs. Producing one kilo of beef generates 15,000 kilos of carbon dioxide and requires 14,000 litres of water. Beef production in the Amazon also has significant social impacts, generating few jobs and underpaying the few it does employ. In fact, on some farms slavery and child labour are still a normal practice. Thus the cheap beef reaching your plate from the Brazilian Amazon is in reality an extremely expensive food in terms of its environmental, social, and economic impact.

In the last 50 years, the transfer of cattle production to the Amazon has been the largest in history. If we project the growth of the Brazilian cattle herd for the next 20 years based on the 1.7 percent growth of country’s herd from 1994 to 2007, we will have 103.7 million head of cattle in the Amazon by 2030, which could lead to the deforestation of 55 percent of the Brazilian Amazon.

All of the above is in direct in contradiction to Brazil’s commitment to cut GHG emissions. We believe that the key challenge faced by Brazil’s livestock decision makers is this: How can research and development institutions respond to the market’s demand for livestock in ways that address social equity, the environment (in particular GHG emissions), and public health issues?

It is clear that urgent action is needed to transform the cattle and beef production. For this we must work for:

– development of national and international policies and regulations designed to encourage socioeconomically and environmentally-sustainable cattle and beef production;

– formalisation of all activities in the cattle-beef production chain with emphasis on the Amazon region;

– development of monitoring systems to ensure the implementation of policies and regulations and aid law enforcement;

– development of sustainable and inclusive policies to help traditional rural communities, peasants, and small-scale producers implement more efficient and sustainable production practices and benefit from active participation in cattle-beef value chain and technical and financial services;

– increased consumer awareness worldwide of the real cost of the beef they eat;

– development of the environmental awareness and production practices of traditional rural communities by involving them in the process of monitoring the impact of cattle-production in their livelihoods and development of income diversification strategies that value the forest, such as environmental services and other products contributing to the maintenance of bio-diversity;

– research to insure that studies of the cattle-beef value chain include its environmental and economic impact on economically and socially-excluded communities;

– and development of strategies to devise more sustainable production technologies and to make more efficient use of resources. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

(*) Joao Meirelles, director-general of the Instituto Peabiru and author of various books on the Amazon. Maria Jose Barney Gonzalez is a consultant for the Peabiru Institute, Brazil.

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