In its new report entitled “The Environmental Food Crisis,” the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) states that current meat production is actually worsening the food crisis and climate change effects. This is due to the unsustainable demands of livestock raising on energy, cereals and water. United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP Achim Steiner explained some of the areas raised in the new assessment.

Achim Steiner – UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP (M): What is the role of livestock, in terms of climate change, but also what is the consumption of livestock and the increasing use of meat for instance in our diets? Our role is to inform people and to also give them the opportunity to perhaps change their lifestyles by having better information.

VOICE: The UNEP report states, “Meat production is energy inefficient and environmentally harmful at industrial scales and with intense use of feed crops such as maize and soybeans… the loss of calories by feeding the cereals to animals instead of using the cereals directly as human food represents the annual calorie need for more than 3.5 billion people.” With the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimating that nearly one billion people suffer from hunger today, wide adoption of the animal-free lifestyle would likely eliminate food shortages.

Dr. Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch at UNEP, is optimistic that once well informed, people may create a culture of consuming more sustainably.

Dr. Arab Hoballah – Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics at UNEP (M): Of course vegetarian is known to be extremely healthy; extremely healthy for the planet. The meat, the relation to the water, the relation to vegetation, the need that we destroy forests to have all the cattle grown up, is a problem. But it has to be analyzed very carefully, and slowly educate people about the benefits. Make them become more responsible, and we believe that we can change habits and have the right multiplier effect very soon.

VOICE: We thank Chief Dr. Hoballah, Executive Director Steiner and the United Nations Environment Program for their efforts to raise awareness through this up-to-date information on the environmental impact of livestock raising. Let us all act responsibly in making vegan food choices that fulfill the needs of all people on the planet.

During the February 2009 climate change videoconference with dignitaries and the public in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai made it clear that replacing animal raising with organic vegan harvests is the primary solution for both the food crisis and global warming.