Climate change policy must distinguish (long-lived) carbon dioxide from (short-lived) methane–Oxford study
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

Climate change policy must distinguish (long-lived) carbon dioxide from (short-lived) methane–Oxford study

a group of scientists recently published a paper on the importance of distinguishing—and treating differently—two of the most common greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is a long-lived emission and methane a short-lived one. The paper outlined a better way to think about how much, and how long, carbon dioxide and methane gases contribute to greenhouse gas emissions budgets. Continue reading

FAO sets the record straight–86% of livestock feed is inedible by humans
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO sets the record straight–86% of livestock feed is inedible by humans

FAO has set the record straight regarding not just the level of greenhouse gas that livestock emit (see yesterday’s posting on this blog) but also incorrect information about how much food (crops eatable by humans) livestock consume, the regular reporting of which is commonly used to bolster arguments for the world to go vegetarian. Continue reading

FAO sets the record straight on flawed livestock emission comparisons–and the livestock livelihoods on the line
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO sets the record straight on flawed livestock emission comparisons–and the livestock livelihoods on the line

As the media frenzy caused by a ‘planetary health diet’ proposed in a new report from an EAT-Lancet commission this month continues, it is perhaps timely to recall that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has set the record straight regarding  a flawed comparison of greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock and transport sectors, a statement that is commonly used to support arguments for the world to stop eating meat.  Continue reading

FAO on the common but flawed comparisons of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and transport
Advocacy / Climate Change / Environment / Opinion piece / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO on the common but flawed comparisons of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and transport

Livestock experts Anne Mottet and Henning Steinfeld, of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), warn of the pitfalls of simplification when looking at greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and transport are often compared, but in a flawed way. Continue reading

UN reports rising numbers of hungry people worldwide
Agri-Health / Consumption / Food Security / Gender / Nutrition / Poverty / Vulnerability / Women

UN reports rising numbers of hungry people worldwide

New evidence continues to signal that the number of hungry people in the world is growing, reaching 821 million in 2017 or one in every nine people, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018 released today. Limited progress is also being made in addressing the multiple forms of malnutrition, ranging from child stunting to adult obesity, putting the health of hundreds of millions of people at risk. Continue reading

Sustained progress made in global work to reduce the rise of antimicrobial resistance—but major gaps remain
Agri-Health / AMR / Disease Control / Human Health / News clipping / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Report / Scaling

Sustained progress made in global work to reduce the rise of antimicrobial resistance—but major gaps remain

The CIDRAP reports this week on a global survey that ‘indicates that while there has been sustained progress on developing national action plans to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR), major gaps remain. Continue reading

Why livestock belong on the table—whether we eat meat or not
Advocacy / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / Livelihoods / Nutrition / Opinion piece / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Vulnerability

Why livestock belong on the table—whether we eat meat or not

Berhe Tekola, director of the Animal Production and Health Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this weekpublished an opinion piece in the Bangkok Post (25 Jun 2018), reminds readers that livestock are integral to the fabric of life in many developing countries. Continue reading

Integration, inclusion, policy development and delivery of local solutions stressed at global livestock meeting in Ethiopia
Research

Integration, inclusion, policy development and delivery of local solutions stressed at global livestock meeting in Ethiopia

The integration, inclusivity and the development of a high level roadmap for the delivery of local solutions to challenges facing the livestock sector were the key themes emerging from the last day of discussion at the seventh multi-stakeholder partnership meeting of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) in Addis Ababa, last week (8–12 May 2017). Continue reading