Environment and breeding
Cattle breeding products – eggs, meat, milk and derivatives – supply a third of global human protein intake. As consumption of this type of food isn’t distributed evenly in the countries of the world, at the same time, it causes obesity in western countries (where consumption of this type of food is excessive) and is a potential undernourishment remedy in developing countries (DCs). But the cattle breeding is also one of the main accountable sectors for the many environmental changes registered in the last decades on a local and global scale. Demand for cattle breeding products is on the rise due to population growth and changes in food preferences: predictions, infact, estimate meat and milk production will double between 2000 and 2050. This poses a risk for the health status of the environment as it implies a deterioration of the process of environmental degradation that is currently taking place. For a full-scale assessment of the impacts of cattle breeding on the environment, it’s necessary to take into account both direct environmental aspects, which are closely related to the typical activities of animal production and indirect aspects, related for example to agriculture activities required to feed cattle. Polluting processes connected to animal production are complex and difficult to control because, on the one hand, industrial cattle breeding presents forms of “acute” pollution having point sources and easily identifiable, on the other hand, various activities related to animal production (agricultural production, chemical industry, waste production and disposal) are to some extent widespread sources of pollution causing a “chronic” impact that are thus identifiable on the long run. Substantial environmental impacts related to animal production concern soil degradation, climate change and atmospheric pollution, use of water resources and the process of their contamination and, more generally, loss of biodiversity. Let’s have a closer look to the current situation and environmental impacts that should be reduced.
Special reports
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A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
31 August 2013
The Red List of Italian animals
Italy has a rich biodiversity due to its distinctive geographic...
-
11 June 2012
Bats, facts and fiction
In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches...
16 April 2012
Bats, The Lords of Darkness
The UNEP Convention on Migratory Species and The Agreement on the Conservation of...
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10 February 2014
Coral turns pale!
The coral reef is one of the ecosystems with the richest biodiversity...
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2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
-
31 August 2013
The Red List of Italian animals
Italy has a rich biodiversity due to its distinctive geographic...
-
11 June 2012
Bats, facts and fiction
In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Ant and fish activities
A small insect like the antilion, digs funnel shaped traps in the sandy ground when it is in the larva…
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11 May 2011
Ant and fish activities
A small insect like the antilion, digs funnel shaped traps in the sandy ground when it is in the larva…