By Obert Siamilandu
THOUGH much of the world is focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels as a way to fight climate
change, there is another, often-overlooked climate change culprit, animal agriculture and its
environmental impact. Animal agriculture is the second largest contributor to human-made greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions after fossil fuels and is a leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution and
biodiversity loss.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union ZCFU has said there was need to come up with mitigation
strategies aiming at reducing emission intensity of this sector to meet the increasing demand for
livestock products driven by population growth.
“Direct impact of climate change on livestock production include heat stress, humidity, wind, drought,
frost, and floods – leading to a decrease in milk production, meat production, reproduction, animal
health, and behavioral performance,said Shadreck Makombe, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union
president.
“There is need for enhanced programmes on adaptation and mitigation to ameliorate such conditions
and situations.Animal agriculture puts a heavy strain on many of the Earth’s finite land, water and
energy resources. In order to accommodate the 70 billion animals raised annually for human
consumption, a third of the planet’s ice free land surface, as well as nearly sixteen percent of global
freshwater, is devoted to growing livestock.
Animal agriculture produces 65% of the world’s nitrous oxide emissions which has a global warming
impact 296 times greater than carbon dioxide. Raising livestock for human consumption generates
nearly 15% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, which is greater than all the transportation
emissions combined.
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