Environmentalists say cows’ methane-filled flatulence and burps are partly responsible for the changes in the earth’s climate. But a new study from the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) suggests that we can curb cattle-generated greenhouse gas emissions by improving degraded lands, making breeds stronger and changing the animals’ diets. The study’s findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

These changes in production would not only impact the environment, but livestock operators would stand to win big as well. Poor farmers in particular could potentially incur payments worth USD1.3 billion (about EUR1 billion) each year by selling saved carbon on the global markets.

‘These technologically straightforward steps in livestock management could have a meaningful effect on greenhouse gas build-up, while simultaneously generating income for poor farmers,’ explains co-author Philip Thornton from ILRI and Denmark’s University of Copenhagen.

Businesses operating in the livestock industry are responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are triggered by deforestation in tropical countries to make room for livestock grazing and feed crops, cattle’s own methane emissions, and the nitrous oxide emitted by manure.

According to the ILRI, there is growing concern that increased livestock production—the result of trying to cover the heightened demand for milk and meat in developing countries—will fuel these greenhouse gas emissions even further.

Thornton and his colleague Mario Herrero, also from the ILRI, suggest that alternatives are readily available that could hinder the production of up to 417 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from livestock in tropical countries in the next 20 years. This whopping number covers some 7% of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by livestock worldwide. The researchers go on to say that decreasing milk and meat consumption would contribute significantly to carbon storage on our planet.

Read more at CORDIS news: Climate change? Blame it on production practices, not just cows , 10 September 2010