[Iyrp-gcg] Fwd: [pastoralist-hub] What if the whole world went vegan?

[Maryam Niamir-Fuller]

TIME SENSITIVE: FOR YOUR ACTION

Dear GCG members
Please see below a message from Paul Mundy, who points out several of the
misunderstandings and fallacies of the "no-meat" argument as reported by
BBC recently. Jim, Ann, Barbara and I agree that we in the IYRP GCG should
try to balance the argument by sending the BBC a rebuttal. This would
include:

1.  Concisely drawing out Paul's good points into a short text
2.  Adding 3-4 scientific and technical documents for reference to back
these points
3.  And recommending that the BBC carry out a balanced report on
pastoralism (and we can give them references for this too).

The message would be sent to the BBC using the new IYRP email account, and
copied for info to the ISG.

If you are in agreement, we would kindly seek your inputs for any of these
3 key points by monday 31st January. Please feel free to add more points if
necessary.

thank you and best regards

Maryam


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Paul Mundy <paul at mamud.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 26, 2022 at 12:43 PM
Subject: [pastoralist-hub] What if the whole world went vegan?
To: Forum of the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub <pastoralist-hub at dgroups.org>


Video on the BBC about the problems of livestock-raising and the impact of
going vegan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/what-if-the-whole-world-went-vegan/p082l2r8



It’s obviously not possible to squeeze all the details of such a complex
issue into 2.5 minutes. While the video does point to the benefits of
traditional grazing, it does make some rather misleading comments.

Below is the transcript, with my comments (labelled 1 to 4).



VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

“The average person eats about 40kg of meat per year. In developed
countries, it’s double that… or about the same weight as an adult dolphin.

But experts now advise cutting down the amount of meat we eat, to help
reduce climate change. So, here’s a thought experiment… What if the whole
world turned vegan?

Around 15% of all greenhouse gases emitted by humans are from livestock
production. If we all became vegan, these emissions would be slashed.

Eating meat takes up space… a lot of it. Around 80% of all farmland is
dedicated to meat and dairy production. That’s about the size of Europe,
the US, China, and Australia combined. (1)

Meat and dairy typically provide 18% of our calories, but account for 60%
of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

A report by the UN’s climate body, the IPCC, recommends we all reduce the
amount of meat we eat. And also how much we waste. The report found 8-10%
of all global emissions are down to food loss and food waste.

But not all meat is the same.

Large-scale farming of beef has a particularly high impact, and has been a
big factor in the loss of the Amazon rainforest.

When cows digest their food, they produce methane a powerful greenhouse gas
that’s about 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over 100 years. And
when cows burp, this methane is emitted. One cow releases between 70 and
100kg of methane every year, and there are around 1.5 billion cattle in the
world today. (2)

But it’s not that simple. A lot depends on how the meat is produced.

Most meat is mass-produced by large-scale industry, and this can come with
a heavy environmental impact.

But small-scale farming of animals can have a lower environmental
footprint. And sometimes - for example in the case of traditional grazing
it can be beneficial in terms of biodiversity. (3)

Vegan alternatives can also come with their own problems. For example,
almond production requires huge amounts of water.

But if everyone switched to a plant-based diet, it could bring several
positive health benefits. One study estimated that if everyone ate a vegan
diet with lots of fresh fruit and veg around eight million deaths could be
avoided around the world by 2050. (4)

There are no simple answers. But if everyone were to change how they look
at food, cultivate it, and eat it in a sustainable way, we could,
potentially, change the world.”



COMMENTS

(1) Yes, but most of this land cannot be used for anything else.

(2) Yes, but removing grazing ruminants would mean other animals would fill
their ecological niche. they would also produce methane.

(3) And in other ways too: water infiltration, carbon storage. Not to
mention the economic, social and nutritional value of livestock production.

(4) If everyone were suddenly to become vegan, millions of people would
lose their livelihoods. The result would be famine, mass migration and
millions of refugees.



Best wishes

Paul



Paul Mundy

development communication

paul at mamud.com, www.mamud.com

Müllenberg 5a, 51515 Kürten, Germany



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