(P) Livestock and mitigation of climate change: from the IPCC to evidence at the national level

To see Maggie Gill's presentation on this subject presented at the "First IDF Dairy Frming Summit: Climate Change - The heat is on?" click here>>

Governments have decided to act on climate change by introducing legislation.
Many of the targets are very ambitious e.g. UK government propose a decrease of 60% in CO2 equivalents by 2050, Scottish Government 80% decrease in emissions and  others such as Norway and New Zealand plan to be carbon neutral by 2050. All sectors will have to contribute, but targets may differ between sectors.

The Inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC) estimated that global agriculture contributed 12% of global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions in 2005, not including use of fossil fuel. Values for the UK agriculture on the same basis are 7%. In the UK methane contributes less than 3% of total human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases, while the indirect costs associated with fuel associated with cultivation of feed contributes around 4%.

In summary:

• governments have an urgent requirement for robust data to underpin the development of policies to mitigate climate change;
• global assumptions should not be used at national levels;
• to meet the urgency of the need for data at a national level, expert groups of scientists, farmers and other stakeholders should lead the definition of priority questions for further research;
• farmers will need access to information to help them respond not only to the impacts of climate change, but also to the impact of climate change policies, not only in their own country, but also the impact on global trade of climate change policies in other countries.

* M Gill also Chief Scientific Adviser Rural Affairs and Environment, Scottish Government