Editing Agriculture (section)

=== Livestock issues ===
[[File:Biogas.jpg|thumb|Farmyard [[anaerobic digester]] converts waste plant material and manure from livestock into [[biogas]] fuel.]]

A senior UN official, Henning Steinfeld, said that "Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html |title=Livestock a major threat to environment |publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization |date=29 November 2006 |access-date=24 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328062709/http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/index.html |archive-date=28 March 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Livestock production occupies 70% of all land used for agriculture, or 30% of the land surface of the planet. It is one of the largest sources of [[greenhouse gas]]es, responsible for 18% of the world's [[greenhouse gas emissions]] as measured in CO<sub>2</sub> equivalents. By comparison, all transportation emits 13.5% of the CO<sub>2</sub>. (This comparison later turned out to be an apples-and-oranges analogy<ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-03-24 |title=UN to look at climate meat link |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8583308.stm |access-date=2025-04-21 |language=en-GB}}</ref>.) It produces 65% of human-related [[nitrous oxide]] (which has 296 times the [[global warming potential]] of CO<sub>2</sub>) and 37% of all human-induced [[methane]] (which is 23 times as warming as CO<sub>2</sub>.) It also generates 64% of the [[ammonia]] emission. Livestock expansion is cited as a key factor driving [[deforestation]]; in the Amazon basin 70% of [[Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest|previously forested area]] is now occupied by pastures and the remainder used for feed crops.<ref name="LEAD">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625012113/http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.pdf |archive-date=25 June 2008 |last1=Steinfeld |first1=H. |last2=Gerber |first2=P. |last3=Wassenaar |first3=T. |last4=Castel |first4=V. |last5=Rosales |first5=M. |last6=de Haan |first6=C. |year=2006 |publisher=U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization |location=Rome |url=http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.pdf |title=Livestock's Long Shadow – Environmental issues and options |access-date=5 December 2008}}</ref> Through deforestation and [[land degradation]], livestock is also driving reductions in biodiversity. A well documented phenomenon is [[woody plant encroachment]], caused by [[overgrazing]] in rangelands.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Archer |first1=Steven R. |title=Woody Plant Encroachment: Causes and Consequences |date=2017 |work=Rangeland Systems |pages=25–84 |editor-last=Briske |editor-first=David D. |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-46709-2_2 |isbn=978-3-319-46707-8 |last2=Andersen |first2=Erik M. |last3=Predick |first3=Katharine I. |last4=Schwinning |first4=Susanne |last5=Steidl |first5=Robert J. |last6=Woods |first6=Steven R. |doi-access=free}}</ref> Furthermore, the [[United Nations Environment Programme]] (UNEP) states that "[[methane emissions]] from global livestock are projected to increase by 60 per cent by 2030 under current practices and consumption patterns."<ref name="unep.org" />