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Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from cattle raising in Brazil

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Abstract

The study estimated, for the first time, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with cattle raising in Brazil, focusing on the period from 2003 to 2008 and the three principal sources: 1) portion of deforestation resulting in pasture establishment and subsequent burning of felled vegetation; 2) pasture burning; and 3) bovine enteric fermentation. Deforestation for pasture establishment was only considered for the Amazon and Cerrado. Emissions from pasture burning and enteric fermentation were accounted for the entire country. The consolidated emissions estimate lies between approximately 813 Mt CO2eq in 2008 (smallest value) and approximately 1,090 Mt CO2eq in 2003 (greatest value). The total emissions associated with Amazon cattle ranching ranged from 499 to 775 Mt CO2eq, that of the Cerrado from 229 to 231 Mt CO2eq, and that of the rest of the country between 84 and 87 Mt CO2eq. The full set of emissions originating from cattle raising is responsible for approximately half of all Brazilian emissions (estimated to be approximately 1,055 Mt CO2eq in 2005), even without considering cattle related sources not explicitly estimated in this study, such as energy use for transport and refrigeration along the beef and derivatives supply chain. The potential for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions offered by the Brazilian cattle industry is very high and might constitute Brazil’s most important opportunity for emissions mitigation. The study offers a series of policy recommendations for mitigation that can be implemented by public and private administrators at a low cost relative to other greenhouse gas reduction options.

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Notes

  1. Geographic macroregions are not congruent with biome boundaries, but provide a rough approximation of the area in respective biomes.

  2. Municipality based census data provides information on the relative percentage of pasture areas in relation to other agricultural land uses. Assuming the sum of these land uses cover the deforested area, we distribute these percentages over the deforested areas in each municipality.

  3. There is a difference in the numbers computed this way and the official rate, which is computed using a specific formula to account for the time scaling in the year (see INPE 2009 for details). In our current models, we use directly the spatially derived information, disregarding the official rate computation approach.

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Acknowledgements

This study received support from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and from the British Embassy in Brasília. We also acknowledge Ms. Zoraida Soeiro, of the Center for Science on Terrestrial Systems at INPE, for her support toward the realization of working meetings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil

    Mercedes M. C. Bustamante & Alexandre S. Pinto

  2. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

    Carlos A. Nobre, Ana P. D. Aguiar, Karla Longo & Jean P. H. B. Ometto

  3. Amigos da Terra-Amazônia Brasileira, Rua Bento Andrade, 85, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Roberto Smeraldi & Peter May

  4. Laboratório de Matemática Computacional, Embrapa Informática Agropecuária, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Luis G. Barioni

  5. Laboratório de Processamento de Imagens e Geoprocessamento, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil

    Laerte G. Ferreira

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  1. Mercedes M. C. Bustamante
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  2. Carlos A. Nobre
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Correspondence to Mercedes M. C. Bustamante.

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Bustamante, M.M.C., Nobre, C.A., Smeraldi, R. et al. Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from cattle raising in Brazil. Climatic Change 115, 559–577 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0443-3

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