Representative meat consumption pathways for sub-Saharan Africa and their local and global energy and environmental implications

Author(s):  
Giacomo Falchetta ◽  
Nicolò Golinucci ◽  
Michel Noussan

<p>In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) most people live on plant-dominated diets, with significantly lower levels of per-capita meat consumption than in any other region. Yet, economic development has nearly everywhere spurred a shift to dietary regimes with a greater consumption of meat, albeit with regional heterogeneity for meat-type and magnitude. A growing regional economy, changing cultural attitudes, and a steeply increasing population could thus push the regional demand upward in the coming decades, with significant depletion of regional and global natural resources and environmental repercussions. We study the historical association of the four main meat types with demand drivers in recently developed countries via seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) equation systems. Using the calibrated coefficients, trajectories of meat consumption in SSA to 2050 are projected relying on the SSP scenarios over GDP and population growth. Then, using a Leontiefian environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) framework exploiting the EXIOBASE3 database, we estimate the related energy, land, and water requirements, and the implied greenhouse gas (CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O) emissions. We calculate that if production to meet those consumption levels takes place in the continent – compared to the current situation – global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would grow by 230 Mt CO<sub>2</sub>e (4.4% of today’s global agriculture-related emissions), the land required for cropping and grazing would require additional 4.2 · 10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup> (more than half of the total arable land in SSA), total blue water consumption would rise by 10,300 Mm<sup>3</sup> (0.89% of the global total), and additional 1.2 EJ of energy (6% of today’s total primary energy demand in the region) would be required. Alternative scenarios where SSA is a net importer of final meat products are reported for comparison. The local policy and attitudes towards farming practices and dietary choices will have significant impact on both the regional environment and global GHG emissions.</p>

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 16479-16526 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.-G. Kim ◽  
A. D. Thomas ◽  
D. Pelster ◽  
T. S. Rosenstock ◽  
A. Sanz-Cobena

Abstract. This paper summarizes currently available data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from African natural and agricultural lands, outlines the knowledge gaps and suggests future directions and strategies for GHG emission studies. GHG emission data were collected from 73 studies conducted in 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Soil GHG emissions from African natural terrestrial systems ranged from 3.3 to 57.0 Mg carbon dioxide (CO2) ha−1 yr−1, −4.8 to 3.5 kg methane (CH4) ha−1 yr−1 and −0.1 to 13.7 kg nitrous oxide (N2O) ha−1 yr−1. Soil physical and chemical properties, rewetting, vegetation type, forest management and land-use changes were all found to be important factors affecting soil GHG emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from African aquatic systems ranged from 5.7 to 232.0 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1, −26.3 to 2741.9 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1 and 0.2 to 3.5 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 and were strongly affected by discharge. Soil GHG emissions from African croplands ranged from 1.7 to 141.2 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1, −1.3 to 66.7 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1and 0.05 to 112.0 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 and the N2O emission factor (EF) ranged from 0.01 to 4.1 %. Incorporation of crop residues or manure with inorganic fertilizers resulted in significant changes in GHG emissions but these were different for CO2 and N2O. Soil GHG emissions in vegetable gardens ranged from 73.3 to 132.0 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1 and 53.4 to 177.6 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1 and N2O EFs ranged from 3 to 4 %. Soil CO2 and N2O emissions from agroforestry were 38.6 Mg CO2 ha−1 yr−1 and 0.2 to 26.7 kg N2O ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Improving fallow with nitrogen (N)-fixing trees increased CO2 and N2O emissions compared to conventional croplands and type and quality of plant residue is likely to be an important control factor affecting N2O emissions. Throughout agricultural lands, N2O emissions slowly increased with N inputs below 150 kg N ha−1 yr−1 and increased exponentially with N application rates up to 300 kg N ha−1 yr−1. The lowest yield-scaled N2O emissions were reported with N application rates ranging between 100 and 150 kg N ha−1. Overall, total CO2 equivalent (eq) emissions from African natural and agricultural lands were 56.9 ± 12.7 Pg CO2 eq yr−1 and natural and agricultural lands contributed 76.3 and 23.7 %, respectively. Additional GHG emission measurements throughout Africa agricultural and natural lands are urgently required to reduce uncertainty on annual GHG emissions from the different land uses and identify major control factors and mitigation options on emissions. There is also a need to develop a common strategy for addressing this data gap that may involve identifying priorities for data acquisition, utilizing appropriate technologies, and establishing networks and collaboration.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sabbatini ◽  
N. Arriga ◽  
T. Bertolini ◽  
S. Castaldi ◽  
T. Chiti ◽  
...  

Abstract. The production of bioenergy in Europe is one of the strategies conceived to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The suitability of the land use change from a cropland (REF site) to a short-rotation coppice plantation of hybrid poplar (SRC site) was investigated by comparing the GHG budgets of these two systems over 24 months in Viterbo, Italy. This period corresponded to a single rotation of the SRC site. The REF site was a crop rotation between grassland and winter wheat, i.e. the same management of the SRC site before the conversion to short-rotation coppice. Eddy covariance measurements were carried out to quantify the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (FCO2), whereas chambers were used to measure N2O and CH4 emissions from soil. The measurements began 2 years after the conversion of arable land to SRC so that an older poplar plantation was used to estimate the soil organic carbon (SOC) loss due to SRC establishment and to estimate SOC recovery over time. Emissions from tractors and from production and transport of agricultural inputs (FMAN) were modelled. A GHG emission offset, due to the substitution of natural gas with SRC biomass, was credited to the GHG budget of the SRC site. Emissions generated by the use of biomass (FEXP) were also considered. Suitability was finally assessed by comparing the GHG budgets of the two sites. CO2 uptake was 3512 ± 224 g CO2 m−2 at the SRC site in 2 years, and 1838 ± 107 g CO2 m−2 at the REF site. FEXP was equal to 1858 ± 240 g CO2 m−2 at the REF site, thus basically compensating for FCO2, while it was 1118 ± 521 g CO2 m−2 at the SRC site. The SRC site could offset 379.7 ± 175.1 g CO2eq m−2 from fossil fuel displacement. Soil CH4 and N2O fluxes were negligible. FMAN made up 2 and 4 % in the GHG budgets of SRC and REF sites respectively, while the SOC loss was 455 ± 524 g CO2 m−2 in 2 years. Overall, the REF site was close to neutrality from a GHG perspective (156 ± 264 g CO2eq m−2), while the SRC site was a net sink of 2202 ± 792 g CO2eq m−2. In conclusion the experiment led to a positive evaluation from a GHG viewpoint of the conversion of cropland to bioenergy SRC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Wiedemann ◽  
M.-J. Yan ◽  
C. M. Murphy

This study conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) investigating energy, land occupation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fresh water consumption and stress-weighted water use from production of export lamb in the major production regions of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The study used data from regional datasets and case study farms, and applied new methods for assessing water use using detailed farm water balances and water stress weighting. Land occupation was assessed with reference to the proportion of arable and non-arable land and allocation of liveweight (LW) and greasy wool was handled using a protein mass method. Fossil fuel energy demand ranged from 2.5 to 7.0 MJ/kg LW, fresh water consumption from 58.1 to 238.9 L/kg LW, stress-weighted water use from 2.9 to 137.8 L H2O-e/kg LW and crop land occupation from 0.2 to 2.0 m2/kg LW. Fossil fuel energy demand was dominated by on-farm energy demand, and differed between regions and datasets in response to production intensity and the use of purchased inputs such as fertiliser. Regional fresh water consumption was dominated by irrigation water use and losses from farm water supply, with smaller contributions from livestock drinking water. GHG emissions ranged from 6.1 to 7.3 kg CO2-e/kg LW and additional removals or emissions from land use (due to cultivation and fertilisation) and direct land-use change (due to deforestation over previous 20 years) were found to be modest, contributing between –1.6 and 0.3 kg CO2-e/kg LW for different scenarios assessing soil carbon flux. Excluding land use and direct land-use change, enteric CH4 contributed 83–89% of emissions, suggesting that emissions intensity can be reduced by focussing on flock production efficiency. Resource use and emissions were similar for export lamb production in the major production states of Australia, and GHG emissions were similar to other major global lamb producers. The results show impacts from lamb production on competitive resources to be low, as lamb production systems predominantly utilised non-arable land unsuited to alternative food production systems that rely on crop production, and water from regions with low water stress.


2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-169
Author(s):  
Samina Nazli

Raising the standards of literacy in the developing world has been a major goal of the less developed countries since most of them became independent in the process of decolonisation that followed World War II. The Human Development Report 2004, brought out by the United Nations Development Programme lists some major improvements in increasing literacy levels of a number of countries between the year 1990 and 2002. For example, low human development countries like Togo increased their adult literacy rates from 44.2 percent in 1990 to 59.6 percent in 2002. Congo saw an increase in its literacy rate for the same period from 67.1 percent to 82.8 percent. The rates for Uganda, Kenya, Yemen, and Nigeria are 56.1 percent and 68.9 percent, 70.8 percent and 84.3 percent, 32.7 percent and 49.0 percent, and 48.7 percent and 68.8 percent respectively. If one examines the breakdown by region, the least developed countries as a group saw an increase in their adult literacy rates from 43.0 percent to 52.5 percent, the Arab states from 50.8 percent to 63.3 percent, South Asia from 47.0 percent to 57.6 percent, Sub-Saharan Africa from 50.8 percent to 63.2 percent and East Asia and the Pacific from 79.8 percent to 90.3 percent. If we look at the increase in the levels of literacy from the perspective of medium human development and low human development, the figures are 71.8 percent and 80.4 percent, and 42.5 percent and 54.3 percent, respectively.


1988 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Knight

South Africa has neither a developed nor a typical underdeveloped economy. Too often it has been wrongly classified, along with, say, Australia and New Zealand, as one of the peripheral developed countries, because only a part of the economy and population have the characteristics we associate with that group. Yet its economy is distinctly different from others in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa falls squarely into the category which the World Bank classifies as ‘upper middle-income’ developing economies, with G.N.P. per capita in 1982 ranging from $2,000 to $7,000 and averaging $2,500, thereby including South Africa, with $2,700.1 (By contrast, Kenya's G.N.P. per capita was $400 and Britain's $10,000). The World Bank's group includes Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Korea, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. South Africa shares many structural economic characteristics with these semi-industrialised countries.


Author(s):  
John Njeru

The epidemiology of Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species (ESKAPE) and their role in the development and spread of multidrug resistance (MDR) is not well characterized in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Carbapenems possess a broad spectrum of activity and are often reserved for the treatment of MDR infections in developed countries. However, the emergence of carbapenem resistance is increasingly being reported and therefore presents a significant public health threat. Although carbapenems are generally unavailable in African hospitals due to high cost, a small number of studies have reported the occurrence of carbapenem-resistant bacteria (CRB) in SSA. This, therefore, shows that carbapenem resistance (CR) is emerging in Africa. Thus, there is a critical need for deploying robust national and regional multidisciplinary, collaborative, and regulatory approaches aiming at elucidating the epidemiology of CR, its burden on the health care system, and strategies for compacting the development and spread of CR. This report hopes to highlight the epidemiology of carbapenem resistance and the main drivers of antibiotic resistance in SSA and proposes future strategies that can be used to combat the emergence of carbapenem resistance in the region


2016 ◽  
pp. 1208-1227
Author(s):  
Monica Gray

Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death and is the major cause of malnutrition in children under age 5 worldwide. More than 50 percent of the cases occur in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Open defecation, substandard fecal disposal systems, and contaminated water supplies are the typical causes of diarrheal diseases. This public health crisis in low income countries mirrors the experiences of today's industrialized nations two centuries ago. The lessons learned from their sanitary evolution can be instructive in charting a sustainable path towards saving the lives of almost 2 million children annually. In this chapter a case study of Cuba's sanitary reformation is also presented to showcase successes, similar to those of developed countries, within a developing country and economically challenging context.


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