Beef roasting the earth

Beef production accounts for around half of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by leading scientists.

The report, to be launched at the Copenhagen climate conference Saturday, estimates that annual emissions linked to Brazilian cattle rearing varied between at least 813 million and 1.09 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year between 2003 and 2008.

The biggest contribution came from deforestation to create cattle pasture, with a significant portion (over a quarter in 2008) resulting from enteric fermentation, the emission of methane and nitrous oxide from the digestive processes of livestock.

Although Brazil’s cattle herd of more than 190 million has often been linked to environmental impacts, especially in the Amazon, this is the first time its emissions have been systematically calculated and linked to the latest inventory of the country’s climate footprint.

The scientists, from two Brazilian federal universities, the national space research institute (INPE) and Friends of the Earth, believe the actual emissions from beef production are higher than those presented in the study. This is because it did not take account of soil carbon emissions from degraded cattle pasture, the production of cattle feed, or transport of cattle and beef – which together could add significantly to the total.

The biggest single source of emissions from cattle production arose from deforestation in the Amazon, around three-quarters of which can be attributed to demand for pasture, according to the study. Beef-related emissions from clearing of the Amazon varied between 718mt CO2e in 2003, a peak year for deforestation, and 442mt CO2e in 2008.

Significant emissions from creation of new pasture were also identified in the Brazilian savanna region, known as the Cerrado. The report estimated that conversion of this ecosystem to beef production resulted in an average of 136.5 mtCO2e per year between 2003-2008, more than half of the emissions linked to Cerrado deforestation.

Enteric fermentation from cattle across the whole of Brazil was estimated at 234 mtCO2e for 2008.

The latest estimate of Brazil’s total greenhouse gas emissions, from preliminary figures for the ministry of science and technology’s second inventory for the UN climate convention, is approximately 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent for 2005.

With nearly half of that attributed to a single sector, the study argues that efficiencies in beef production represent the most important opportunity for mitigating Brazil’s climate impacts.

“This does not imply a cut in current production, and may even be compatible with a moderate increase,” said INPE’s Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil’s leading climatologists and a co-ordinator of the study.

Among the measures recommended by the study to reduce beef-related emissions are:
· Integration of livestock and crop production to reduce the need for conversion of more forests or savannas for pasture.
· Investment in recuperation of degraded pasture land, to increase productivity of cattle ranching
· Elimination of the use of fire in pasture management
· Changes in cattle diet, including feed supplements and different grazing crops, to reduce methane emissions
· A reduction in the current impunity perceived to exist for cattle ranchers who break the law by expanding their pastures into public forest lands, stimulating uncontrolled land speculation in the Amazon.
· The use of mechanisms such as REDD Plus to catalyse good practice and encourage low-carbon forms of beef production

According to Roberto Smeraldi of Friends of the Earth, another co-ordinator of the study, a drastic fall in the carbon intensity of the Brazilian beef industry is required if it is to be economically sustainable.

“Based on the study, we established that the cost of carbon emissions per unit of production was greater than the wholesale price,” Smeraldi said.

An edited version of this article was published by Point Carbon news.