Sci Total Environ. 2015 Dec 1;536:419-31. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.022. Epub 2015 Jul 29.
Machovina B, Feeley KJ, Ripple WJ
Abstract
The
consumption of animal-sourced food products by humans is one of the
most powerful negative forces affecting the conservation of terrestrial
ecosystems and biological diversity. Livestock production is the single
largest driver of habitat loss, and both livestock and feedstock
production are increasing in developing tropical countries where the
majority of biological diversity resides. Bushmeat consumption in Africa
and southeastern Asia, as well as the high growth-rate of per capita
livestock consumption in China are of special concern. The projected
land base required by 2050 to support livestock production in several
megadiverse countries exceeds 30-50% of their current agricultural
areas. Livestock production is also a leading cause of climate change,
soil loss, water and nutrient pollution, and decreases of apex predators
and wild herbivores, compounding pressures on ecosystems and
biodiversity. It is possible to greatly reduce the impacts of animal
product consumption by humans on natural ecosystems and biodiversity
while meeting nutritional needs of people, including the projected 2-3
billion people to be added to human population. We suggest that impacts
can be remediated through several solutions: (1) reducing demand for
animal-based food products and increasing proportions of plant-based
foods in diets, the latter ideally to a global average of 90% of food
consumed; (2) replacing ecologically-inefficient ruminants (e.g. cattle,
goats, sheep) and bushmeat with monogastrics (e.g. poultry, pigs),
integrated aquaculture, and other more-efficient protein sources; and
(3) reintegrating livestock production away from single-product,
intensive, fossil-fuel based systems into diverse, coupled systems
designed more closely around the structure and functions of ecosystems
that conserve energy and nutrients. Such efforts would also impart
positive impacts on human health through reduction of diseases of
nutritional extravagance.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://www.cof.orst.edu/leopold/papers/Machovina_2015.pdf
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://www.cof.orst.edu/leopold/papers/Machovina_2015.pdf