Now, the average Chinese person eats 63 kilograms of meat
a year – about half as much as the average American. In total,
China consumes a third of the world’s meat and half of all
its pork.
Demand for meat is also set to rise in Indonesia, India
and Vietnam. Chatham House ranks Indonesia as a top 10
nation for forecast meat consumption growth. The beef
industry has its eyes on Vietnam.
Hong Kong has mega meat consumption levels, at
144 kilograms per person a year – about 430 grams a day.
Australians also love their meat, eating more than Americans
in 2014. In Malaysia, chicken consumption is among the
highest worldwide.
Consumption in many industrialised countries has already
plateaued at high levels, double – or even triple in the United
States – what is considered “healthy” levels.
Left unchecked, such consumption levels are perilous.
Agriculture will take up 87 percent of the world’s carbon
budget for 2050, leaving little for the energy, industry and
transport sectors. “Even under the most ambitious of
decarbonisation scenarios, it will be near impossible for
emissions from other sectors” to adjust accordingly, says the
Chatham House report “Changing Climate, Changing Diet”.- Producing animal feed uses a third
of all ice-free land, and forests are
often cleared for this purpose - The meat industry also causes water
pollution, “ocean dead zones”, soil
degradation and uses a third of all
fresh water. The overuse of antibiotics
is creating drug-resistant bacteria,
threatening their future use.
And the confined conditions of intensive
farming have come under fire: tens
of thousands of chickens or several
thousand pigs may be kept in one barn.
THE TOLL OF MEAT
The production of meat has a huge
environmental impact. Livestock are the
biggest source of two greenhouse gases:- Nitrous oxide, from fertilisers and animal
waste, has 300 times the warming effect of
carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) - Methane, passed from cows and ruminants,
warms the world 20 times faster than CO 2
NITROUS OXIDEMETHANELAND USEWATER USE &
POLLUTION
GHGS