Mitigation strategies for livestock in a global perspective

Meeting on Climate Smart Agriculture

Theun Vellinga, December 1, 2016

The complete whole livestock sector GHG emissions

Source: Gerber et al. (2013) Tacklingclimate change trhough livestock

GHG of the livestock sector

Source: Gerber et al. (2013) Tackling climate change trhough livestock

DANGER CO2W

Rapid industrializationLow development Slow industrialization

Post-industrial

Human health

Livelihoods

EnvironmentFood security

A shared interest with different priorities

Source: State Of Food and Agriculture 2009

Ethiopia

India

Brazil SwedenNewZealand

A dichotomy of the livestock sector

Industrial, specialized§Commodity based§Optimising animal§Primary crops,

good land§Trade-off to environment§Global sources, markets§High energy input§High CO2 profile

Smallholder/backyard§Multifunctional§Optimising system§Crop residues,

marginal land§Trade-off to animal§ Local sources, markets§ Low energy input§ Low CO2 profile

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0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000 7 000 8 000 9 000Output per cow, kg FPCM per year

kg C

O2-

eq. p

er k

g FP

CM

Smallholder systemsOptimizing the farming systemMultifunctional systems

Subsistence farmingNo market access

Specialized systemsOptimizing animal performanceCommodity based

Source: Gerber et al., 2011

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0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000 7 000 8 000 9 000Output per cow, kg FPCM per year

kg C

O2-

eq. p

er k

g FP

CM

Coupling with food securityExisting technologyCapacity building, technology transferInfrastructure and institutionsMarket access

New technologySystem innovations

Mitigation strategies

Source: Gerber et al., 2011

Pigs: little variation in GHG, wide variation in efficiency

System Backyard Intermediate Industrial

GHG emissions(kg CO2eq/kg Carcass W. 5.5 6.5 6.0

Feed Conversion (kg feed/kg LW) 4.9 3.4 2.7

N excretion(kg N/kg protein output) 2.0 1.0 0.7

N retention(kg N retained/kg N intake) 0.15 0.23 0.30

Feed sourceFood

scraps, waste

Primary crops

Primary crops

Mitigation strategies

Mitigation in developing countries: 7 * F

§ Food security: a basic right! ● And prerequisite for development

§ Financial, market access, banking infrastructure§ (Female) Farmers: knowledge transfer§ Feed improvement: quality and availability§ Fertilizer use: manure, synthetic fertilizers§ The Fridge, the cold chain

Mitigation in industrialised countries

§ As CO2 is >30 % of the emissions: energy saving along the complete chain should be considered

§ Nitrogen Use Efficiency§Waste and waste utilization!

Conclusions§ Ruminants!

§ Developing countries:● Combine food security, adaptation and mitigation

● Existing knowledge, market access, institutional change, infrastructure

§ Industrialised systems:● CO2 is a large fraction and should get more

attention

§ Develop an approach to affect a diffuse sector● Simple indicators● It’s more than technology

Thank you

for listening