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

Focusing on the different types of grassland farming and their impact on the environment, this book addresses issues facing environmental quality, namely soil, water and air quality and socioeconomic impacts. It also offers a commentary on how the different pastoral sectors influence environmental issues.

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.

Focusing on the different types of grassland farming and their impact on the environment, Environmental Impacts of Pasture-based Farming takes a broad and interdisciplinary view of the subject. The text is organized into two sections, the first addressing issues facing environmental quality, namely soil, water and air quality and socioeconomic impacts. The second section offers commentary on how the different pastoral sectors influence environmental issues. With highly tuned farm productive systems comes the risk of environmental impacts, and the purpose of this text is to highlight the areas with which these risks are associated and how best to mitigate them. While drawing attention to potential problems, chapter authors always remain conscious of the socio-economic needs of land users and the increasing world population and keep in mind that intense mitigation may be too restrictive on the farming system. This book takes an unbiased approach to improving management of grazed land and incorporates research from environmental science, agriculture, soil science and ecology.