A very meaty diet: what consequences for biodiversity?

Worldwide, 65 billion animals are slaughtered annually to fulfil our meat consumption. While meat consumption in Europe and the United States has stagnated and even slowed in recent years (the average annual meat consumption of Belgians fell from 82.4 kg in 2010 to 72.2 kg in 2020[3]), in other regions of the world – such as China and India, for example – meat consumption is experiencing a real growth, mainly due to rising incomes. World production even increased fivefold between 1950 and 2000. Estimated at 309 million tonnes in 2013, it could well reach 465 million tonnes in 2050 on a planet with more than 9 billion people.[4]

However, such an increase in meat production has consequences for biodiversity and human health. In particular, increasingly intensive livestock farming to meet the growing demand for red meat is causing damage to ecosystems: deforestation to transform forests into grain crops for animal feed, water and soil pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, animal abuse, introduction of potentially dangerous chemicals into the food chain (antibiotics, growth hormones, etc.).

Deforestation

Current meat consumption is estimated to be responsible for the destruction of 62% of forests and other ecosystems.[5] The production of 1 kg of meat requires between 7 and 12 kg of grain.[6] This leads to the deforestation of millions of hectares worldwide every year to plant wheat, corn or soya to feed livestock. Moreover, 70% of agricultural land is now used for animal feed, 65% in Europe.[7]

Tropical forests are particularly endangered ecosystems. Half a hectare of tropical forest, equivalent to the surface area of a football field, is destroyed every second, leading to the disappearance of many species of plants, animals and insects.[8]

Greenhouse gas pollution and emissions

Intensive livestock farming, which is very water-intensive, is also a source of nitrate and phosphorus pollution from manure and slurry spreading. Failure to treat cattle excrement would generate more than 500 nitrogen-saturated dead zones in the oceans.[9] Pesticide and fertilizer runoffs contaminate depleted soils and aquatic areas.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, livestock farming is responsible for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions (2017 data[10]), due to its high methane and nitrous oxide content, beating the transport sector. These two gases result from the use of fertilizers for crops and ruminant digestion. Their warming potential is 25 and 300 times higher respectively than that of CO2.[11]  A study in the United Kingdom found that greenhouse gas emissions from beef were 16 kg CO2 equivalent per kilogram of beef, compared to 0.8 kg CO2 equivalent per kilogram of wheat (Garnett 2009). In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, “the consumption of one kilogram of domestic beef in a household represents automobile use of a distance of 160 km.” (Carlsson-Kanyama and González 2009). However, climate change is a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem balance.

So what solutions can I adopt to reduce my carbon footprint and improve my health? Find out more in the article “Save biodiversity by eating better“