January 8, 2010

 

OIE to research on links of meat and climate change

 

 

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) announced it would launch a study into the role of meat in climate change.

 

The report, carried out by independent experts, is expected to be published by summer, said OIE director general Bernard Vallat.

 

It is the first time in its nearly 85-year history that the 175-nation OIE is to carry out an environmental investigation. This follows after increasing accusations that rising meat consumption is contributing heavily to climate change.

 

Several research studies said livestock are significant sources of greenhouses gases through methane emissions from digestion, or through the clearing of forests for pasture and inputs used in raising cattle.

 

Vallat said there was a very strong request from member states for the report. The investigation's scope will be limited, and it will not seek to rival or replicate the work of the UN's global-warming scientists, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he said.

 

By some estimates, there will be a 50% surge in demand for animal protein by 2020 in order to feed the world's burgeoning population and demands from emerging economies, he said. That translates to more livestock being raised for consumption, which gives more weight to climate change concerns.

 

Celebrity vegans such as Paul McCartney are urging consumers to stop meat consumption as part of an effort to fight climate change.

 

A kg of beef causes more greenhouse gas and other pollution than driving for three hours while leaving all the lights on back home, according to a 2007 study led by Akifumi Ogino of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan.