Livestock provide valuable nutritional benefits as well as supporting livelihoods and the resilience of families and communities. Demand for animal products continues to grow in response to rising population and increasing wealth, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In spite of productivity gains, greenhouse gas emissions from livestock are also increasing. Successful action on climate change through practical action in livestock agrifood systems is an urgent priority, but must not come at the expense of other sustainability objectives, particularly those relating hunger and poverty. Hence there is a need to balance the benefits of animal-source foods and livestock keeping for nutrition, health and livelihoods, with the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to tackle the climate crisis, which also threatens food security. The following five practical actions can be widely implemented for measurable and rapid impacts on livestock emissions: 1) boosting efficiency of livestock production and resource use; 2) Intensifying recycling efforts and minimizing losses for a circular bioeconomy; 3) capitalizing on nature-based solutions to ramp up carbon offsets; 4) striving for healthy, sustainable diets and accounting for protein alternatives; and 5) developing policy measures to drive change. This brief describes how these can be implemented in integrative and sustainable ways, taking account the diversity of livestock systems and enhancing synergies and managing tradeoffs with other sustainable development objectives. FAO can help by providing developing tools, methodologies and protocols for measuring emissions, and supporting the development and analysis of technical and policy options towards sustainable, low-carbon livestock.

Greenhouse gas emissions by the livestock sector could be cut by as much as 30 percent through the wider use of existing best practices and technologies. FAO conducted a detailed analysis of GHG emissions at multiple stages of various livestock supply chains, including the production and transport of animal feed, on-farm energy use, emissions from animal digestion and manure decay, as well as the post-slaughter transport, refrigeration and packaging of animal products. This report represents the most comprehensive estimate made to-date of livestocks contribution to global warming as well as the sectors potential to help tackle the problem. This publication is aimed at professionals in food and agriculture as well as policy makers.

"The assessment builds on the work of the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative"--Pref.

The current analysis was conducted to evaluate the potential of nutritional, manure and animal husbandry practices for mitigating methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) - i.e. non-carbon dioxide (CO2) - GHG emissions from livestock production. These practices were categorized into enteric CH4, manure management and animal husbandry mitigation practices. Emphasis was placed on enteric CH4 mitigation practices for ruminant animals (only in vivo studies were considered) and manure mitigation practices for both ruminant and monogastric species. Over 900 references were reviewed; simulation and life cycle assessment analyses were generally excluded

The Federal Government of Nigeria has adopted an ambitious strategy to make Nigeria the world’s 20th largest economy by 2020. Sustaining such a pace of growth will entail rapid expansion of the level of activity in key carbon-emitting sectors, such as power, oil and gas, agriculture and transport. In the absence of policies to accompany economic growth with a reduced carbon foot-print, emissions of greenhouse gases could more than double in the next two decades. This study finds that there are several options for Nigeria to achieve the development objectives of vision 20:2020 and beyond, but stabilizing emissions at 2010 levels, and with domestic benefits in the order of 2 percent of GDP. These benefits include cheaper and more diversified electricity sources; more efficient operation of the oil and gas industry; more productive and climate –resilient agriculture; and better transport services, resulting in fuel economies, better air quality, and reduced congestion. The study outlines several actions that the Federal Government could undertake to facilitate the transition towards a low carbon economy, including enhanced governance for climate action, integration of climate consideration in the Agriculture Transformation Agenda, promotion of energy efficiency programs, scale-up of low carbon technologies in power generation (such as renewables an combined cycle gas turbines), and enhance vehicle fuel efficiency.

This FAO report presents a comprehensive global assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock systems, utilizing FAO’s Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) based on the most recent available data. GLEAM also considers indirect emissions from upstream activities, such as feed and other inputs, and part of the downstream processes including post-farm transport, processing and packaging of raw products. Drawing from an extensive literature review, this publication illustrates pathways towards lower emissions through a set of interventions on both the supply and the demand sides of animal production.

This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2021 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition.