How Are We Going To Stop Deforestation?
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In the last 40 years something like 40% of all rain-forests have been cleared for rearing livestock.
Although up until recent times most of the meat production has been to service the needs of the developed world, a new and more worrying scenario is developing.
As the economies of developing countries grow, in particular Asian countries, greater stress is put on the worlds food production systems.Those who once could barely afford one meal a day are now eating two. The worry however, is that the additional money in peoples pockets now makes meat more affordable. What once was a rarity is now an everyday experience!
The consequences of this are not too difficult to fathom. The greater demand for meat products inevitably requires further tropical deforestation to clear the way for rearing livestock. In fact, it has been calculated that the demand for meat will double by the year 2050.
How much more land will have to set aside to meet our future needs?
Currently, we use 30% of the worlds soil for farming. There are already about one and a half billion cattle on the planet and nearly 1.8 billion sheep. When you consider that 70% of all agricultural land is used for rearing livestock and that a third of all crop production is used for extra feed for animals - how are we going to plausibly cope with future demand?
The fact is we can’t continue going in the direction we have been without catastrophic results. Deforestation is responsible for nearly 25% of global carbon emissions, nearly as much as the industry and transport sectors put together. But it doesn’t end there! greenhouse gases produced by animal farming (methane and nitrous oxide) are actually way more damaging to the environment, part for part, than CO2.
What makes the the problem greater is that deforested land makes for poor farming. People who farm this land often have to move on and clear more land just to keep up with production. By 2050 there will be no tropical rain-forests left!
How do we put an end to this vicious cycle of deforestation? Only by acting together to cut the demands we are making and by helping third world countries restore the forests
they once had. When the demand stops the supply will dry up. In the West we already eat twice as much protein than we need, just by halfing our intake of meat and following a green food diet we can cut our carbon footprint a lot more than we can by giving up our cars! It takes just $100 to save 25000 sq feet of rain-forest ( see arborday.org), enough to combat the effects of driving a car for about 14000 miles.
We can all do our bit to save the planet, we just have to start now!
