Vegetarian shift seen helping climate, not poor

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Vegetarian shift seen helping climate, not poor

Wed 24 Sep 2008, 11:07 GMT

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Eating less meat can help rich nations to

combat global warming but may not work for poor countries where people

depend on livestock for survival, a leading expert said on Wednesday.

U.N. reports show that the livestock sector accounts for about 18

percent of greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming -- more

than the transport industry. Eating less beef, pork or chicken is often

advocated as a way to cut emissions.

"We agree that the world as a whole could eat less meat," said

Carlos Sere, head of the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research

Institute, which is backed by governments around the world.

"But we are concerned that the message is too generic. You do not

want to get governments and development agencies to forget about

livestock in Asia and Africa," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

More than 600 million people in developing nations depend on

livestock to some extent, he said. In India, for instance, milk is a

key source of protein and calcium for a huge vegetarian population.

Raising livestock "is a key survival instrument...you are allowing poor people to make an income," Sere said.

Other benefits include meat, hides, use of animals for transport

and dung for fertilisers. Meat consumption is far lower in developing

nations than in rich countries.

Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the U.N. Climate Panel, suggested

this month that people should have a meat-free day every week to help

slow global warming that could bring more floods, droughts and rising

seas.

 

VEGETARIAN

Others have also advocated a shift away from meat. "The biggest

change anyone could make in their own lifestyle would be to become

vegetarian," former Beatle Paul McCartney said earlier this year of

ways to fight global warming.

Sere said the messages should be focused on rich nations, where

livestock are often fattened on food that could otherwise be used for

human consumption.

Farm animals emit large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse

gas, from their digestive tracts. Use of fossil fuels for everything

from fertilisers to harvesting feed for animals also contributes to

greenhouse gas emissions.

In developing nations, smallholders with a few buffaloes or cows

often fed them waste from crops such as sorghum, rice or millet,

"turning resources humans can't eat into something of value," he said.

In the longer term, rising incomes in developing nations are spurring a surge in demand for meat.

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has projected that

world meat production will more than double to 465 million tonnes in

2050, from 229 million in 1990-91. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)