Impacts of European livestock production: nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus and greenhouse gas emissions, land-use, water eutrophication and biodiversity
Journal article, 2015

Livestock production systems currently occupy around 28% of the land surface of the European Union (equivalent to 65% of the agricultural land). In conjunction with other human activities, livestock production systems affect water, air and soil quality, global climate and biodiversity, altering the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. Here, we quantify the contribution of European livestock production to these major impacts. For each environmental effect, the contribution of livestock is expressed as shares of the emitted compounds and land used, as compared to the whole agricultural sector. The results show that the livestock sector contributes significantly to agricultural environmental impacts. This contribution is 78% for terrestrial biodiversity loss, 80% for soil acidification and air pollution (ammonia and nitrogen oxides emissions), 81% for global warming, and 73% for water pollution (both N and P). The agriculture sector itself is one of the major contributors to these environmental impacts, ranging between 12% for global warming and 59% for N water quality impact. Significant progress in mitigating these environmental impacts in Europe will only be possible through a combination of technological measures reducing livestock emissions, improved food choices and reduced food waste of European citizens.

coastal eutrophication

European Union

climate change

soil acidification

livestock production

air quality

biodiversity loss

Author

A. Leip

European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra

G. Billen

Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les Hydrosystemes et les Sols

J. Garnier

Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les Hydrosystemes et les Sols

B. Grizzetti

European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra

L. Lassaletta

Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les Hydrosystemes et les Sols

S. Reis

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

University of Exeter

David Simpson

Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Global Environmental Measurements and Modelling

Other publications Research

M. A. Sutton

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

W. de Vries

Wageningen University and Research

F. Weiss

European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra

H. Westhoek

Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

Environmental Research Letters

1748-9326 (ISSN)

Vol. 10 11 115004

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Roots

Basic sciences

DOI

10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/115004

Publication data connected to DOI

More information

Latest update

2/28/2018

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