Emissions from factory farms worsening climate crisis, say African campaigners

The greenhouse gas emissions linked to intensive livestock production have escalated climate disasters in Africa and the larger global south, derailing the transition to a resilient and green future.

Campaigners said this on Tuesday.

Speaking during the virtual launch of a report by the World Animal Protection (WAP), an international animal welfare charity in Nairobi, they urged a moratorium on factory-based livestock farming to curb emissions of planet-warming gases.

“Factory farming poses a core obstacle in achieving the targets laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement and casts a dark shadow over the prospect of a climate-safe future,’’ said Tennyson Williams, director for Africa at WAP.

Titled “How Factory Farming Emissions Are Worsening Climate Disasters in the Global South, “the WAP report states that attaining net-zero targets could be a mirage unless demand for animal-based protein dips significantly.

Factory farming is contributing at least 11 percent to global greenhouse gas emissions, escalating climate disasters like heatwaves, cyclones, droughts, and flooding, the report notes.

The report finds that factory farms in the Global North were responsible for 8.65 billion dollars’ worth of damage linked to climate disasters in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

It observes that by 2050, economic costs associated with climate emergencies could exceed 1 trillion U.S. dollars annually, with factory farms liable for over 100 billion dollars of that cost.

In spite of it’s threat to ecosystems and public health, intensive livestock farming is set for growth in Africa, where demand for meat is poised to surge by 30 percent by 2030, said Victor Yamo, the Humane and Sustainable Agriculture Campaigns manager at WAP.

“Factory farms are highly reliant on commodity feeds and are behind deforestation, which in turn is fueling climate change. These farms are also driving environmental pollution and the spread of zoonotic diseases,’’ Yamo said.

Yamo said that decarbonising livestock systems in Africa through a return to traditional practises that are in harmony with nature would place the continent on a climate-resilient trajectory.

In addition, Yamo said the ongoing UN climate summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, should consider setting aside a fund to help small-holder livestock herders on the continent adapt to climate change.