Food systems generate about one-third of the world’s human-generated climate pollution. Livestock contribute greatly to that and much has been said about reducing meat and dairy consumption to help the environment, but not as much about how to replace them.
In an article in Nature Communications, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40899-2 , a study of the impact of reducing meat and dairy and replacing them with “meat-like plant products” the “net reduction of forest and natural land is almost fully halted and agriculture and land use greenhouse gas emissions decline by 31% in 2050 compared to 2020”. If the saved land was returned to it’s natural state, the benefits would greatly increase!
Most of the emissions saved by a shift to plant-based foods, would come from halting agricultural expansion and preserving land. Under a model that assumes the status quo continues, demand for meat would continue to rise globally, and overall land devoted to agriculture would grow by 4 percent, about seven times the size of Germany — by 2050. But if people replace half of the meat and dairy they consume with plant based foods over the same time period, land used for feeding and keeping livestock would shrink by 12 percent, roughly twice the size of India. Sparing that land also would help limit biodiversity loss and conserve water, the researchers found. The authors argue that food security could be improved, as well.
The study admits that turning the world around to consume less meat and dairy will be a challenge, with much of the world increasing consumption rapidly and the slow rate of conversion to plant based diets in wealthier countries.
Read the article at the above link or a summary in Grist, dated September 12, 2023.