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CLIMATE
CHANGE & ENVIRONMENT
One meat-free day can help tackle
climate change: Pachauri
London: One meat-free day a week
can help tackle climate change, claims Dr. Rajendra
Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nations Inter-governmental
Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC). Pachauri, who last
year earned a joint share
of the Nobel Peace Prize, and was re-elected the panel's
chairman for a second
six-year term last week, told The Observer that diet
change is important because
of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental
problems - including
habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle
and other animals. It was
relatively easy to change eating habits compared to
changing means of transport,
he opined. According to The Observer and The Guardian,
the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has
estimated that meat production accounts for nearly
a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These
are generated during the production of animal feeds,
for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit
methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global
warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has
also warned that meat consumption is set to double
by the middle of the century. "In terms of immediacy
of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions
in a short period of time, it clearly is the most
attractive
opportunity," said Pachauri. "We really
have to bring about reductions in every
sector of the economy," he added. Pachauri, who
is here to attend an event hosted
by animal welfare group -- Compassion in World Farming
-- has calculated that
if the average UK household halved meat consumption
that would cut emissions more than if car use was
cut in half. The group has called for governments
to lead
campaigns to reduce meat consumption by 60 per cent
by 2020. The average person in the UK eats 50g of
protein from meat a day, equivalent to a chicken breast
and a lamb chop - a relatively low level for rich
nations but 25-50 per cent more than World Heath Organisation
guidelines. Chris Lamb, the head of marketing for
the pig industry group BPEX, said the meat industry
had been unfairly targeted and was working hard to
find out which activities had the biggest environmental
impact and reduce those. Some ideas were contradictory,
he added. "Climate change is a very young science
and our view is there are a lot of simplistic solutions
being proposed," he said. Last year, a report
into the environmental impact of meat eating by the
Food Climate Research Network at Surrey University
claimed livestock generated eight per cent of UK emissions.
But it also said that eating some meat was good for
the planet because some habitats benefited from grazing.
It also said vegetarian diets that included lots of
milk, butter and cheese would probably not noticeably
reduce emissions because dairy cows are a major source
of methane, a potent greenhouse gas released through
flatulence.
-Sept 7, 2008
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