Winter 2023
It is an undisputed fact documented by FAO that animal agriculture is the leading cause of Climate Change. This was not only absent from discussions at the COP27 Conference, but according to an attendee, beef was served extensively.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Report, Livestock’s Long Shadow documents the impacts of the world’s livestock on the environment and the very significant contribution of animal agriculture to climate change, air pollution, land and soil, including livestock induced deforestation, water degradation, and biodiversity loss.
According to the FAO report published in 2006, the livestock sector emerges as one of the top 2 or 3 most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems at every scale from local to global including climate change. Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and “needs to be addressed with urgency”. The livestock sector is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions measured in co2 equivalent, which is a higher share than transportation. Livestock are responsible for much larger shares of some gasses with far higher potential to warm the atmosphere, and it is growing significantly.
The livestock sector is by far the single largest anthropogenic user of land, and is a key player in increased water use. It is the largest sectoral source of water pollution, contributing to ‘dead zones’ in coastal areas. Major sources of pollution are from animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops, and sediments from eroded pastures. The report suggests animal agriculture should be a major policy issue when dealing with problems of climate change, pollution, misuse of scarce resources, loss of biodiversity.
Rising demand for food products of animal origins caused by growing incomes along with changing food preferences are increasing demand for meat and dairy livestock products and increasing the level of damage and impact on the environment. According to FAO, “Livestock products are a contributing cause of obesity.” The meat and dairy based diet is also linked to the Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers as well as being the single greatest cause of global warming. Eating animals is unhealthy for humans, the planet, and most definitely for the innocent animals.
The World Health Organization said the pivotal climate talks at COP27 issues a grim reminder that the climate crisis continues to make people sick, jeopardizes human lives, and that human health must be at the core of these critical negotiations, Climate change is already affecting people’s health and will continue to do so at an accelerating rate unless urgent action is taken. The most effective urgent action to take is to ban animal agriculture and encourage humans to adopt a plant-based diet.
“Climate change is making millions of people sick or more vulnerable to disease all over the world and the increasing destructiveness of extreme weather events disproportionately affects poor and marginalized communities,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
Small Island Nations are the most effected by global warming and suffering the most. To their credit, they are fighting back. Vanuatu has started an initiative to stop ecocide by making it a crime punishable by the International Criminal Court. The Minister of Health from Fiji is quoted as saying once culture is lost, it is gone forever. Vegan International hopes that these and other nations will see the connection between animal agriculture, ecocide and global warming and make that an international crime also.
Energy is the problem, and Sustainable Energy For All (SE4All) has the solutions. Their SDG 7 Pavilion at the COP27 Conference offered the opportunity to engage and discuss topics of importance to a just and equitable energy transition, and they showcased how to unite global efforts on energy, climate, and development. Vegan International applauds the SE4All initiatives aimed at ending energy poverty and supporting climate progress by reducing the contribution of energy to global warming. Why isn’t this kind of common sense and innovative thinking being used on the real global warming problem: animal agriculture?
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