Veganism is not the simple solution to sustainability that George Monbiot recently argued. I wish it were that easy. While I commend those taking steps to change their diets to reduce their environmental footprints, a vegan world – where no one consumes animal-derived meat, milk and eggs – is not how we will achieve sustainable global development.
Some argue that, because of its low environmental footprint, veganism is the best dietary choice to feed the world’s growing population. Research suggests otherwise. An investigation published in the US last month compared 10 different eating patterns and concluded that diets incorporating some animal-source foods (especially milk and eggs) use less land than their vegan alternative.
This is because more inclusive diets make optimal use of all existing land to feed people. That includes croplands and rangelands where grain and hay can be grown to feed livestock. A lot of meat and milk that would remain unproductive in a vegan context is produced on these marginal rangelands. For example, 60% of sub-Saharan Africa is covered by drylands where raising livestock is the main, and often the only, land use option available.
Decades of research have shown that medium levels of livestock grazing, rather than none at all, are better for the health, productivity and biodiversity of these rangelands. When managed well, such areas also sequester large amounts of carbon in their soils.
People in high-income countries could do much to reduce their dietary impact on the world. They could moderate their intake of all foods and reducing the amount they waste, for example. Food waste accounts for up to 50% of total production globally and 7% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Above all, livestock are essential to many of the world’s poorest people and can’t simply be cast aside. In low- and middle-income economies, where livestock account for 40-60% of agricultural GDP, farm animals provide livelihoods for almost 1 billion people, many of whom are women. Cows, goats, sheep, pigs and poultry are scarce assets for these people, bringing in regular household income, and can be sold in emergencies to pay for school or medical fees. For those who would otherwise have to subsist largely on cheap grains and tubers – risking malnutrition and stunted children – livestock can provide energy-dense, micronutrient-rich food. Animal-source foods are especially important for pregnant women, babies in their first 1,000 days of life, and young children.
When so many lives and livelihoods depend on these animals, should we really envision a scenario where an African household is denied the chance to raise a few chickens or a couple of stall-fed dairy cows? Or an Asian family is prevented from keeping a dozen pigs on a tiny plot? Or pastoralists are prevented from herding goats, sheep and cattle across drylands?
Like any other sector, livestock production faces challenges. It is a big user of water and other natural resources, and its greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change. Moreover, overconsumption of animal-source foods can lead to obesity and ill health; many human infectious diseases originate in livestock and other animals. There is also the overuse of antibiotics in intensified livestock production systems, and the welfare of animals themselves, to consider.
These challenges, all of which are being addressed today in multi-institutional initiatives, should not persuade us to turn away from livestock. They should instead encourage us to pay much greater attention to the sector, enabling it – through scientific advances and enlightened policymaking – to provide the greatest benefits for the world’s people at the least cost environmentally and socially.
Many people in wealthy countries who advocate veganism, or indeed any other single kind of diet, do so in a context of food excess. Let’s remember the many, many other people who are not so fortunate. It would be a tragedy if good intentions were to end up hurting some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Whatever our passions and whatever “side” of the vegan debate we fall on, we must overcome the temptation to find simple answers to the world’s complex and context-specific sustainability challenges. Demonising livestock is one such misguided simple response. To achieve true sustainable development, we are going to have to make good use of livestock – and all the other natural resource assets we have at our disposal.
Dr Jimmy Smith is director general of the International Livestock Research Institute