Better citations needed
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:06 pm
Hi. I am just starting this course, super excited, but I wanted to point out a misleading stat... when you say 'nearly half the planet's land is being used for livestock' it is not accurate, and the source link does not have a scientific citation attached to it. In fact, half of all habitable land (excluding glaciers and barren land, which account for 29% of all land) is used for all agriculture. Of this half, 77% is used as pasture and to grow animal feed.
It is important to note - aside from the horrific deforestation to make way for animal agriculture - that this pasture can be (most especially in Africa and parts of South America) natural to semi-natural grassland ecosystems that require some kind of herbivory in order to regenerate themselves, whether livestock or wildlife. Much pasture therefore has multiple users - biodiversity and livestock. I do not, however, have stats on the extent of this...
I think the more rigorous citations are, the less room there is for naysayers to attack one. I include the info below, which links to citations from the FAO.
https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture
It is important to note - aside from the horrific deforestation to make way for animal agriculture - that this pasture can be (most especially in Africa and parts of South America) natural to semi-natural grassland ecosystems that require some kind of herbivory in order to regenerate themselves, whether livestock or wildlife. Much pasture therefore has multiple users - biodiversity and livestock. I do not, however, have stats on the extent of this...
I think the more rigorous citations are, the less room there is for naysayers to attack one. I include the info below, which links to citations from the FAO.
https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture
