Embodied Hanpp of Feed and Animal Products: Tracing Pressure on Ecosystems Along Trilateral Livestock Supply Chains 1986-2013

Abstract

The global livestock system induces important impacts on ecosystems. Global livestock supply chains link producers of feed, livestock farmers, and final consumers, through international trade in (1) feed and (2) animal products. Studies analyzing the telecoupled ecological impacts of livestock supply chains have so far not been able to distinguish between the impacts linked to trade in feed and in animal products, nor could they reveal the impacts embodied in different stages of the supply chain. To overcome this research gap, we reconstructed trilateral livestock supply chains based on the flows of 161 feed products and 13 primary animal products between 222 countries for the years 1986 to 2013. We used the embodied Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (eHANPP) indicator to quantify pressure on ecosystems linked to these trilateral livestock supply chains. We find that livestock induced 65% of agriculture’s pressure on ecosystems, mostly through cattle grazing. 12% of livestock’s pressure on ecosystems was linked to trade across world regions. The impacts linked to trade were nearly equally distributed between trade in feed and animal products. HANPP embodied in feed trade was mostly linked to soybean imports used to produce pig meat. HANPP embodied in animal product trade was mostly linked to cattle meat exports. eHANPP was highest at the feed production level in exporting regions as South and North America, and at the consumption level in importing regions as Eastern Asia. In the former Soviet Union, eHANPP was lowest at the animal products production level. In Western Europe, the eHANPP was about equal at the animal products production and consumption levels. Our results suggest that options to reduce livestock’s pressures on ecosystems exist at all levels of the supply chain. Especially reducing production and consumption in high consuming countries, and regulating international supply chains appear as promising strategies.

Keywords: meat, Agriculture, embodied Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production, international trade, telecoupling, footprint