Climate & Environment
Calculating livestock’s hoofprint
Livestock systems vary greatly around the world and can enhance or harm the environment depending on how they are managed. Livestock and environment interactions include climate change, water and land use, nutrient recycling, and biodiversity.
Livestock play a key role in the bio-economy by increasing the value of crop residues and agricultural by-products. Context-specific livestock production practices can be developed to maximize the synergies between livestock and the environment.
Climate change adaptation:
Livestock production is an effective way to help farmers adapt to climate change and the drier conditions that may occur. After a climate shock, livestock are often the only asset that people have to help them recover.
Climate change mitigation:
Feeding animals better and enhancing rangeland productivity through better pasture management along with other interventions to improve productivity can significantly reduce unit emissions.
Competition for land and water:
The demand by livestock for feed and land does not necessarily compete with the food needs of people.
Sustainable resource management:
Well-managed livestock can ensure sustainable land and water management. Livestock manure is a ready source of natural fertilizer for crops, providing 12% of the nitrogen used for crop production globally, rising to 23% in mixed crop livestock systems. Livestock can also help restore degraded land; and in rangelands, livestock keeping can contribute to the biodiversity…
(Credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann)
Climate change adaptation:
Climate change adaptation policies and investment should not discourage ownership of livestock. Rather, policies should facilitate the use of livestock as a climate change adaptation strategy; for example, targeted livestock off-take organized by governments can enable livestock keepers to cope better with droughts.
Climate change mitigation:
Large scope to reduce greenhouse gas emissions exists through increased livestock productivity (measured per unit of livestock product). Enhancing rangeland productivity through better pasture management and use of higher productivity animals can significantly reduce unit emissions. Climate change mitigation policies should aim to enhance the efficiency of livestock production. Funding should be channeled to the livestock sector to facilitate adoption of appropriate productivity-increasing technologies.
Competition for land and water:
To avoid competing with food crops, forages can be grown beside hedges or as strip crops that help prevent soil erosion. Manure from animals fed on crop residues can be used to fertilize soil and enhance crop productivity. Policies that aim to enhance agricultural productivity should incorporate both livestock and crops and promoted integrated solutions that maximise the use of human inedible feed resources.
Sustainable resource management:
It is critical to have policies that encourage and incentivize livestock-crop interactions for optimal resource use; these should include supporting markets for crop residues (such as maize stover and rice straw) and manure. Government programs that aim to increase agricultural productivity should be broad-based to cover both crops and livestock and their interaction.
In mixed crop-livestock systems, forage production can contribute to sustainable land and water management, by for example, preventing erosion and enhancing soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. Policies and investments should support these innovations.
Equitable and guaranteed land access is crucial for livestock keepers in extensive systems. Better land use planning and land management incentives can encourage more sustainable livestock production.
Sustained livestock mobility that is critical to ensure sustainable livestock keeping in extensive systems requires appropriate land use mapping and planning policies. Livestock movement corridors should be protected and assured in land use plans and supported with infrastructure.
Increasing rangeland productivity by providing the right community decision-making incentives and mechanisms is critical for sustainable land management.
Optimal approaches to restore degraded lands include enhancing livestock productivity, promoting community range management and enhancing insurance schemes to relieve livestock keepers of the need to keep many livestock for insurance purposes.
Land access and management:
Sustained livestock mobility that is critical to ensure sustainable livestock keeping in extensive systems requires appropriate land use mapping and planning policies. Livestock movement corridors should be protected and assured in land use plans and supported with infrastructure.
Increasing rangeland productivity by providing the right community decision-making incentives and mechanisms is critical for sustainable land management.
Optimal approaches to restore degraded lands include enhancing livestock productivity, promoting community range management and enhancing insurance schemes to relieve livestock keepers of the need to keep many livestock for insurance purposes.
In mixed crop-livestock systems, forage production can contribute to sustainable land and water management, by for example, preventing erosion and enhancing soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. Policies and investments should support these innovations.
Climate change adaptation:
- Thornton, P.K. and Herrero, M. 2015. Adapting to climate change in the mixed crop and livestock farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature Climate Change. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2754.
- McKune, S.L., E. C. Borrensen, A.G. Young, T.D. A. Ryley, S.L. Russo, A.D. Camara, M. Coleman and E.P. Ryan. 2015. Climate change through a gendered lens: examining livestock holder food security. Global Food Security 6:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2015.05.001
- McPeak, J.G. P.D. Little and C. R. Doss. 2011. Risk and social change in an African Rural Economy: Livelihoods in Pastoralist Communities. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1186/2041-7136-2-24
- Homewood, K., Kristjanson, P., and P. Chenevix Trench. 2009. Staying Maasai? Livelihoods, Conservation and Development in East African Rangelands. New York: Springer. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87492-0
Climate change mitigation:
- FAO and New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. Reducing Enteric Methane for improving food security and livelihoods project. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/in-action/enteric-methane/en/
- FAO and New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. 2017. Low emissions development of the beef cattle sector in Uruguay – reducing enteric methane for food security and livelihoods. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6749e.pdf
- FAO and New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. 2017. Supporting low emissions development in the Ethiopian dairy cattle sector – reducing enteric methane for food security and livelihoods. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6821e.pdf
- Garnett, T., Scarborough, P. and Finch, J. 2016. Focus: the difficult livestock issue. IN: FCRN. Foodsource. Oxford: Food Climate Research Network. https://www.foodsource.org.uk/chapters/8-focus-difficult-livestock-issue
- Gerber, P.J., Steinfeld, H., Henderson, B., Mottet, A., Opio, C., Dijkman, J., Falcucci, A. and Tempio, G. 2013. Tackling climate change through livestock – A global assessment of emissions and mitigation opportunities. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3437e/i3437e.pdf
- Herrero, M., B. Henderson, P. Havlik, PK Thornton, RT Conant, P. Smith, S. Wirsenius, AN Hristov, P. Gerber, M. Gill, K. Butterbach-Bahl, H. Valin, T. Garnett and E. Stehfest. 2016. Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector. Nature Climate Change https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE2925
- Herrero, M., Havlík, P., Valin, H., Notenbaert, A., Rufino, M.C., Thornton, P.K., Blümmel, M., Weiss, F., Grace, D. and Obersteiner, M. 2013. Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems. PNAS 110 (52): 20888-20893. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1308149110
- Hristov, A.N., Oh, J., Lee, C., Meinen, R., Montes, F., Ott, T., Firkins, J., Rotz, A., Dell, C., Adesogan, A., Yang, W., Tricario, J., Kebreab, E., Waghorn, G., Dijkstra, J., and Oosting, S. 2013. Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in livestock production – a review of technical options for non-CO2 emissions. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 177. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3288e/i3288e.pdf
Competition for land and water:
- Herrero, M., S. Wirsenius, B. Henderson, C. RIgolot, P. Thornton, P. Havlik, I de Boer and P. Gerber. 2015. Livestock and the environment: what have we learned in the past decade? Annual Review of Environmental Resources 40: 177-202. https://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-031113-093503
- Mottet, A., Haan, C. de., Falcucci, A., Tempio, G., Opio, C. and Gerber, P. 2017. Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate. Global Food Security 14: 1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2017.01.001
Sustainable resource management:
- Davies, J., P. Herrera, J. Ruiz-Mirazo, J. Mohamed-Katere, I. Hannam and E. Nuesri. Improving governance of pastoral lands: implementing the voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security. FAO Governance of Tenure Technical Guide. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5771e.pdf
- Devendra, C. and D. Thomas. 2002. Crop-animal interactions in mixed farming systems in Asia. Agricultural Systems 71: 27-40. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(01)00034-8
- Herrera, P.M., J Davies and P. Manzano Baena. 2014. The governance of rangelands: collective action for sustainable pastoralism. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.2989/10220119.2015.1083478
- Herrero, M., S. Wirsenius, B. Henderson, C. RIgolot, P. Thornton, P. Havlik, I de Boer and P. Gerber. 2015. Livestock and the environment: what have we learned in the past decade? Annual Review of Environmental Resources 40: 177-202. https://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-031113-093503
- IIED and SOS Sahel. 2010. Modern and Mobile: the future of livestock production in Africa’s drylands. London: IIED. http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/12565IIED.pdf
- Liu, J., You, L., Amini, M., Obersteiner, M., Herrero, M., Zehnder, A.J.B. and Yang, H. 2010. A high-resolution assessment on global nitrogen flows in cropland. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(17): 8035-8040. https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0913658107
- Niamir-Fuller, N. 1999. Managing mobility: the legitimization of transhumance. Rugby, UK: Practical Action. http://dx.doi.org/10.3362/9781780442761
- Powell, J.M., R.A. Pearson and P.H. Hiernaux. 2004. Crop-livestock interactions in the West African Drylands. Agronomy Journal 96: 469-483. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10460-009-9203-z
- Roba, G., Gibbons, S. and Mahad, Y. 2013. Strengthening natural resource governance in Garba Tula. Nairobi: IUCN. https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/handbook_1__web.pdf
- Rufino, M.C., E.C. Rowe, R. J. Delve, K.E. Giller. 2006 Nitrogen cycling efficiencies through resource-poor African crop-livestock systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 112: 261-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2005.08.028
- Scherr, S.J. and McNeely, J.A. 2008. Biodiversity conservation and agricultural sustainability: towards a new paradigm of “ecoagriculture” landscapes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 363: 477-494. http://dx.doi.org//10.1098/rstb.2007.2165
- Shiferaw, B. and Holden, S.T. 2000. Policy instruments for sustainable land management: the case of highland smallholders in Ethiopia. Agricultural Economics 22 (3): 217-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5150(00)00046-3
- Silvestri, S., P. Osano, J. de Leeuw, M. Herrero, P. Ericksen, J. Kariuki, J. Njuki and A. Notenbaert. 2012 Greening Livestock: Assessing the potential of payment for environmental services in livestock inclusive agricultural production systems in developing countries. Nairobi: ILRI. http://hdl.handle.net/10568/21188
- Turner, M.D., Ayantunde, A.A., Patterson, K.P. and Patterson, E.D. 2012. Conflict management, decentralization and agropastoralism in dryland West Africa. World Development 40 (4): 745-757. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.09.017
