OBJECTIVE:
The efficient management of our shared natural resources, and the way we dispose of toxic waste and pollutants, are important targets to achieve this goal. Encouraging industries, businesses and consumers to recycle and reduce waste is equally important, as is supporting developing countries to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption by 2030.
A large share of the world population is still consuming far too little to meet even their basic needs. Halving the per capita of global food waste at the retailer and consumer levels is also important for creating more efficient production and supply chains. This can help with food security, and shift us towards a more resource-efficient economy.
HOW ANIMAL EXPLOITATION UNDERMINES THIS GOAL
Some 30-40% of food waste is in animal products, which means that the actual waste is not only the product itself but all of the consumption of natural resources involved in the creation of that animal product. This is material given that exploited animals consume many times more calories and nutritional content than they yield.
Animal industries of mass breeding and slaughter emit greenhouse gases, strain resources of clean water, contribute in large part to land degradation and declining natural soil fertility, and result in high levels of solid and chemical waste collecting in rivers and oceans. Even without a change to the system, its impact is excessive due to overproduction and food waste, which contributes to greenhouse gases through emissions generated as it decomposes.
Fishing bycatch, often including protected species like turtles and sharks, is many times the amount of fish that is consumed and devastation is caused by commercial fishing which dredges everything out of the water, large or small. Indeed, an amount many times more of small fish are captured and fed to farmed fish than the amount of fish that is directly consumed by humans.
Overall, commercial livestock farming and fishing industries, processing, packaging, and shipping systems carry a huge tax on the environment in terms of water, land, and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with large amounts of energy consumption and waste. Animal exploitation and its role in the feedback loop of greenhouse gases is immense due to the combined waste of all connected to this mega-industry conglomeration.
Further Reading:
Goal 12 : Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (United Nations website)
“Food waste is an animal advocacy issue” – Research by the EPA determined that consumers never eat 41% of the fruits and vegetables they buy, 31% of seafood, 21% of meat, 21% of the eggs, and 20% of the dairy. (93% of Animal Products purchased in U.S.), AUTHOR: SARA STREETER | PUBLISHED: MARCH 18, 2020 – https://faunalytics.org
“CAFOs Uncovered” – The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations – …CAFOs no longer benefit from grain subsidies, but the problem of increasing concentration in the processing industry persists. This may make it difficult for CAFO alternatives to gain substantial market share without changes… Doug Gurian-Sherman, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS, April 2008 – https://www.ucsusa.org
( Note: The report above dates 2008, where as now in 2021 the CAFO model is the predominant source of animal-derived products, including exclusive facilities for seafood, fur, leather, animal testing and medical usage) ie. the largest fur CAFO in Poland – “Film showing mink ‘cannibalism’ prompts probable ban on fur farms in Poland” Sep. 2020 – https://www.theguardian.com
“Threats – Overfishing” – Overview – The number of overfished stocks globally has tripled in half a century and today fully one-third of the world’s assessed fisheries are currently pushed beyond their biological limits, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Overfishing is closely tied to bycatch—the capture of unwanted sea life while fishing for a different species. – https://www.worldwildlife.org
“Pharming animals: a global history of antibiotics in food production (1935–2017)” – However, from the mid-1950s onwards, agricultural antibiotic use also triggered increasing conflicts about drug residues and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by Claas Kirchhelle, published: 07 August 2018 – https://www.nature.com
