Page 16 - Vol.38-No.6

DAIRY FARMING

ANIMAL HEALTH IMPORTANT FOR HELPING

CUT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

Improving animal health can help cut may diminish due to reduced needs for
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but replacement animals or changes in the feed
more granular approaches to measuring ration. Therefore, it is important to adopt
progress are vital if countries are to be a systems perspective and understand the
able to include it in their national climate drivers of supply-chain emissions.
commitments, a new report shows. Among the report’s other
Diseases affecting animals, how long they
live and how productive they are all have recommendations include:
a significant impact on GHG emissions, • A data collection and maintenance
says the report by the Food and Agriculture system needs to be established that in-
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The report shows how countries can de- cludes stakeholders from across the sector,
Global Dairy Platform and the Global Re- velop an MRV system at national level to be which will add value to the animal health
search Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse able to include animal health improvements intelligence gathering at national and in-
Gases, entitled “The role of animal health in national climate commitments. ternational levels. The approach taken
in national climate commitments.” But to do that, the report says, it’s es- must be inclusive of all actors in the sec-
This means greater investments are sential for countries to use the detailed tor, including research and academia and
needed to establish systems for measure- methodologies known as Tier 2 or 3, de- the private sector, as well as science and
industry and development partners such as
ment, reporting and verification (MRV). veloped by the Intergovernmental Panel the World Bank and IFAD who contributed
There is currently no standardized method on Climate Change (IPCC) to the report.
to include improved animal health in most While the commonly used Tier 1 ap-
countries’ GHG national inventories or na- proach only allows for estimating GHG • A combined life cycle assessment and
tionally determined contributions (NDCs). emissions per animal with regional averag- systems perspective needs to be consid-
As a result, the importance of animal health es, Tier 2 looks at specific local production ered to account for the reduction in indirect
is often not clearly reflected in countries’ systems. This includes herd parameters to emissions due to improved animal health
commitments to fight climate change. estimate impacts on animal numbers such (e.g. changes in feed consumption, use of
“This report marks a breakthrough in as mortality, fertility, age at first parturition pastures, use of energy).
highlighting the importance of animal and replacement rate, as well as produc- • The capacity of governments and
health and guiding countries towards a tion data including milk yields and animal partners should be enhanced in calculat-
much more granular approach in evaluating weights at different life stages. ing emissions and accounting for impact
its role and how it needs to be incorporated Data on feed for different categories of throughout the value chain;
into national commitments to help miti- animals and manure management systems FAO considers animal health vital for
gate the climate crisis,” said FAO Deputy are also critical as these have a strong in- sustainable livestock production. Animal
Director-General Maria Helena Semedo. fluence on emission factors. Measuring products not only represent a source of
“The livestock sector provides vital nutri- parameters such as the methane (CH4) high-quality food but are also a source of
tion and livelihoods for more than a billion conversion factor may even require using income for many small farmers and animal
people worldwide,” said Donald Moore, Ex- Tier 3 approaches with more complex mod- holders, making a significant contribution
ecutive Director of Global Dairy Platform. elling and associated data, the report says. to livelihoods and Gross Domestic Product
“This brief demonstrates how governments A key challenge concerns how emissions in many developing countries.
and industry can work together on climate from the livestock sector are reported in
solutions and is part of the global dairy national GHG inventories and included in
sector’s Pathways to Dairy Net Zero ini- NDCs. In their inventories, countries re-
ADVERTISE
tiative,” he said. port direct emissions at sector level. These ADVERTISE
“While this report clearly demonstrates emissions in the livestock sector include IN THE ARAB
IN THE ARAB
the opportunity for improved animal health CH4 emissions from enteric fermentation
to contribute to climate mitigation, it also in animals’ digestive systems and CH4 and WORLD
WORLD
highlights the need to address critical data nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from ma-
AGRIBUSINESS
gaps and build capacity in low- and mid- nure management. Emissions from feed AGRIBUSINESS
dle-income countries, in particular. production, processing and transport and
energy use are reported under “agricultural
MAGAZINE AND
Governments and the sector should sup- MAGAZINE AND
port long term investments in research and soils” or the energy sector.
PROMOTE YOUR
create the enabling environment for animal At the same time, animal health interven- PROMOTE YOUR
health policies and programmes to realise tions cannot be considered in isolation at
PRODUCTS
their full potential,” said GRA Special Rep- animal level as affecting only direct emis- PRODUCTS
resentative, Hayden Montgomery. sions. For example, supply-chain emissions

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