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Unlocking Climate Resilience: Are agroecological, animal-friendly systems the key?

  • Publication | 2025
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Animal agriculture accounts for 12-20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, including direct and indirect emissions linked to large scale feed production. Fertilizer and manure management as well as crop residues from feed production release high concentrations of nitrogen and contribute to 66% of anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions, another short-lived climate pollutant. Methane is a short-lived but extremely potent greenhouse gas, over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) at trapping heat over a 20-year period. Tackling methane emissions is therefore one of the most effective strategies available to slow global warming in the near term and to keep the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach emissions. Livestock methane emissions stem primarily from enteric fermentation, a physiological digestive process in ruminants, as well as from manure management. To date, mitigation efforts have mostly focused on technical solutions, such as feed additives or the acidification of slurry. However, such narrow interventions fail to address the complexity of the emissions and pollution associated with industrialised animal agriculture.

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Authors
Clara Schubert, Sophie Aylmer, Dr Carolina Cardoso Nagib Nascimento
Geographic coverageGlobalEthiopia
Available from

08 Aug 2025

Related organisation(s)CGIAR - Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers
Knowledge service | MetadataGlobal Food and Nutrition Security | AgroecologySustainable Food Systems | AgroforestryAgroecological practiceClimate extreme
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)animal welfarebiogasclimate changepolicymaking
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