Ireland plays key role in assessing environmental impact of livestock

Ireland is at the forefront of a UN-led partnership to harmonise how the environmental performance of livestock is measured.

Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture are key players in the partnership led by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). A low-carbon food production system is becoming an increasingly important ecological concern, with meat consumption set to rise 73% and dairy up 58% by 2050.

FAO senior livestock policy officer Dr Pierre Gerber said: “We must establish a shared understanding of how to assess the environmental performance of livestock.

“We need reliable quantitative information on key environmental parameters along livestock supply chains as an evidence base from which to drive improvements,” Dr Gerber said.

The FAO wants to harmonise the many different methods being used across the globe to measure and assess the eco impacts of animal production. The goal is a more efficient use of scarce natural resources, and to minimise food production’s impact on water resources and climate change.

Teagasc’s director of research Dr Frank O’Mara said: “It no longer suffices to claim that Irish agriculture is green; we have to prove it, and we have to improve it. This partnership with the FAO will make sure that we do this in collaboration — rather than in competition — with our scientific colleagues around the world.”

Partners include France, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and a wide selection of global agri-food industry organisations.