DEFORESTATION
- Livestock raising is one of the main drivers of deforestation.4 (UN FAO, 2006)
- Since
the 1990s approximately 90% of Amazonian deforestation has been due to
clearing land for grazing cattle or growing feed for livestock.5
- In Australia, 91% of all tree clearing over a 20-year period has been done for livestock grazing.6 (recent
report on a 20-year study commissioned by the Queensland government
by Mr. Gerald Bisshop, retired principal scientist of the Queensland
Department of Environment and Resources Management)
DESERTIFICATION
- Desertification is caused by overgrazing and expansion of livestock crop-rowing areas.7
(TPN3 Rangeland Management in Arid Areas including the fixation of sand dunes, UNCCD, 2003)
- Over 50% of the world’s soil erosion is caused by livestock, which leads to desertification.8
- Some
75 billion tons of topsoil are being eroded annually due to
agricultural mismanagement, climate change, and livestock grazing. In
the United States alone, 54% of pasture land is overgrazed, with more
than 100 tons of topsoil lost per hectare per year.9
(A study presented by Professor John Crawford at the recent Carbon Farming Conference held in New South Wales, Australia)
- In
2010, Iraq, China, Chad, Australia, and Mongolia, among others,
reported serious drought, with livestock grazing making conditions
worse.
Reference
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drought-dust-bowls/
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/2008/04/25/nature-on-stunning-new-climate-feedback-beetle-tree-kill-releases-more-carbon- than-fires/
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http://nsidc.org/news/press/20100915_minimum.html - ibid 61.
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- ibid.
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http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=greenland_iceisland_11_08_2010?ref=ccbox_weather_topstories - Belluscio, A. (2010, September 3). What lies beneath Antarctic ice. Nature News. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100903/full/news.2010.442.html?s=news_rss and http://canadianclimateaction.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/methane-bubbling-off-the-antarctic- peninsula-hello-paleocene-eocene-thermal-maximum/
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http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20090506/bolivias-chacaltaya-glacier-melts-nothing-6-years-early - Stracansky P., (2010, November 13). Fast Melting Glaciers Threaten Biodiversity. Inter Press Service [IPS] / International Federation of Environmental Journalists [IFEJ] / UNEP/ CBD. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53552
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