By Varda Mehrotra (Executive Director, FIAPO)
“There is enough for everyone’s need, and not for everyone’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
To feed the 7 billion+ human population of our planet, over 70 billion land animals and almost a trillion marine animals are bred each year. Before being unjustly consumed, these animals require nutrition in terms of feed and water only to cater to certain unnecessary dietary desires of human beings. The feed for these animals comes from plants and trees, which requires a huge amount of water, land, air and other precious natural resources to produce. Breeding of these animals and the food required to feed them, is resulting in deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution and many other natural calamities which put together lead to climate change.
It is appalling that the contribution of livestock farming is not being discussed on a global level as part of the climate crisis. Climate change affects not only our lives but also the lives of generations to come in the most detrimental way possible. Think of it as the gloomiest nightmare for all of Earth’s inhabitants. Human population is set to increase substantially by the year 2050, and consequently livestock production and its adverse effects will double- the picture only gets darker. This should be, if it already isn’t, a matter of great concern to each one of us.
Think of our planet as a whole- and what natural wonders it has to offer. The beautiful, dense Amazon rain forests, for instance. I remember as a child, reading about the exotic rain forests of the Amazon, wide-eyed and awestruck. Many years later, I ended up spending time in these beautiful forests, when I was backpacking in Brazil. I stayed in the forest in a modest hut, sleeping in hammocks as the locals did, and fell irrevocably in love with it. So the news of the forests burning had a particular relevance for me – not just because I care deeply for the earth and all its inhabitants, but because it brought me to the situation I hoped to never witness in this lifetime: The Amazon Rain forests endured record-breaking fires, while the world watched.
According to experts, these fires were intentional, because they were the result of a ‘slash-and-burn’ method of deforestation, done with the sole objective of clearing land for livestock farming. And livestock farming, along with these terribly hazardous fires will only reinforce climate change, thus making its effect more dangerous than we can imagine.
As for the burning Amazons, I have two words to say – ‘Paradise Lost.’
