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Balancing livestock and environment; the grazing system

Year of publication 1998

Author CEES DE HAAN;Animal Production and Health Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Category Technical study

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) While the contribution of grazing systems to the world's meat supply is limited (nine percent of the global beef and thirty percent of the global mutton production), grazing systems have the most direct interface between livestock and land, water and bio-diversity, and cover the majority of the usable surface of the earth. They thus merit considerable attention in the livestock-environment debate. This presentation will first highlight the vast differences between the different grazing systems i n the various ecological zones, and then define, for each of these production systems, the main pressures it is subjected to, the main evolution of the world's grazing resources, and the key responses needed to arrive at their more sustainable use. As such, this presentation closely follows the Pressure State Response model, outlined in an earlier presentation.

Language English

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    The interactions between livestock production and the environment are complex. Understanding the physical mechanisms, with which livestock improve or degrade the global natural resource base of land, air, water and bio-diversity is clearly important; however, human actions and activities, which make livestock behave the way they do, are much more important. In this Conference on Livestock and the Environment, it would therefore be incomplete to look only at physical interactions, such as the eff ect of stocking rate on the vegetation, or quality of feed on methane emission and global warming. A broader framework is required, which links human behavior and biological phenomena, such as grazing behavior and waste emission, into comprehensive models. This presentation seeks to sketch that broader framework. It will first describe the two conceptual models used in the Livestock-Environment Study, then use these models to describe general principles regarding livestock-environment inter actions, within and beyond production systems, and how future demand will affect the dynamics of those interactions. To provide the overall context, the paper will then link the objectives and scope of the Study with the same two conceptual models. The following papers in this Conference will focus on particular production systems, or describe cases within production systems with particular interesting policy-technology interactions.
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    Livestock provide essential commodities and services to the majority of the world's population. With increasing numbers of people, meat production is projected to increase from 200 million to 310 million tons per year by the year 2020 (De Haan et al., 1996). Although demand for livestock products is stagnating in developed countries, it is rapidly increasing elsewhere due to urbanization and associated shift in eating habits towards livestock products. In addition to providing meat, milk, eggs, hides and skins, livestock provide draught power and manure to enhance soil fertility. Livestock form an integral part of the social fabric for many peoples while they serve as a capital reserve available for hard times. While nutritional trends in developed countries may be in favour of reducing consumption of animal products, in developing countries nutritional needs for animal products are still high.
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