"The demand for meat,
eggs, and dairy products in developing countries has increased at a
staggering rate in recent decades," says report co-author Danielle
Nierenberg, director of Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet project.
"While industrialized countries still consume the most animal products,
urbanization and rising incomes in developing countries are spurring
shifts to more meat-heavy diets."
"Farm-animal
production provides a safety net for millions of the world's most
vulnerable people," says Nierenberg. "But given the industry's rapid and
often poorly regulated growth, the biggest challenge in the coming
decades will be to produce meat and other animal products in
environmentally and socially sustainable ways."
Concentrated animal
feeding operations (CAFOs), or factory farms, are the most rapidly
growing system of farm animal production. The United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 80 percent of growth in
the livestock sector now comes from these industrial production systems.
CAFOs now account for 72 percent of poultry production, 43 percent of
egg production, and 55 percent of pork production worldwide.
But CAFOs produce
high levels of waste, use huge amounts of water and land for feed
production, contribute to the spread of human and animal diseases, and
play a role in biodiversity loss. Farm animal production also contributes
to climate change: the industry accounts for an estimated 18 percent of
the world's greenhouse gas emissions, including 9 percent of the
carbon dioxide, nearly 40 percent of the methane (a
greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide), and 65 percent
of the nitrous oxide (300 times more potent as carbon dioxide).
The environment is
not all that is at stake with this rapidly shifting means of food
production; factory farms pose a serious threat to public health as
well. Diets high in animal fat and meat----particularly red meat and processed meats, such as hot dogs, bacon, and sausage----have been linked to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancer.
Although CAFOs
originated in Europe and North America, they are becoming increasingly
prevalent in developing regions like East and Southeast Asia, where
environmental, animal-welfare, public health, and labor standards are
often not as well-established as in industrialized regions. The report
stresses that to prevent serious human and environmental costs,
policymakers will need to strengthen production regulations around the
world.
Further highlights from the report:
- Between 1980 and 2005, per capita milk consumption in developing
countries almost doubled, meat consumption more than tripled, and egg
consumption increased fivefold.
- Approximately 75 percent of the new diseases that affected humans from 1999 to 2009 originated in animals or animal products.
- Because CAFOs
rely on a narrow range of commercial breeds selected for their high
productivity and low input needs, less-popular indigenous livestock
breeds are rapidly falling out of use: in 2010, the FAO reported that at
least 21 percent of the world's livestock breeds are at risk of
extinction.
- Livestock production is a major driver of
deforestation: cattle enterprises have been responsible for 65-80
percent of the deforestation of the Amazon, and countries in South
America are clearing large swaths of forest and other land to grow
animal feed crops like maize and soybean.
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