OBJECTIVE:
“Achieving economic growth and sustainable development requires that we urgently reduce our ecological footprint by changing the way we produce and consume goods and resources. Agriculture is the biggest user of water worldwide, and irrigation now claims close to 70 percent of all freshwater for human use”.
“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”.
(Sustainable development goals: United Nations Development Programme: Goal 12 Responsible Consumption and Production)
HOW ANIMAL EXPLOITATION UNDERMINES THIS GOAL
Animal Agriculture is Resource Intensive: The Meat, Dairy, and Egg industries and their accompanying feed crops use more water (1) and land globally than any other food (2). This is a material issue, given that exploited animals consume many times more calories and nutritional content than they yield (3).
Animal Product Food Waste: About one-third of all the food produced in the world is lost or wasted at some point in the food supply chain (FAO, 2011). Although animal-based products have historically been lost or wasted less than other commodities, recently there have been additional factors that must be considered in animal agriculture, such as loss due to extreme weather events (4) and increasingly catastrophic losses from zoonotic epidemics (5-6).
Fishing Supply Chain: The processing, packaging, and shipping of seafood products by the fishing industries have an increasingly negative impact on the ocean environment (7).
AG Pollution: In the raising of animals for food, the processing, packaging, and shipping of products is a significant contributor to greenhouse gases. It is also a strain on clean water resources, a contributor to land degradation and the decline of natural soil fertility, and results in high levels of solid and chemical waste collecting in rivers and oceans (8).
Unsustainable Fishing: The world’s fisheries are reaching a crucial point (9). Fishing bycatch often includes protected species such as turtles and sharks (10). Small fish are also caught in order to feed farmed fish (11). Declining oxygen primarily from nitrogen and phosphorus agricultural runoff accompanied by climate warming are creating an increasing number of dead zones (12).
Key Environmental Effects of Animal Agriculture: Some of the most detrimental environmental effects from the Animal Agriculture Industry have occurred from deforestation (13), water extraction (14), nitrite toxins in soil (15), ocean acidification (16) and eutrophication of waterways (17).
Importance of Considering All Domestic and Wild Animal Exploitation: Domestic animals are bred in great numbers (18), and not just farmed for food. They are also farmed for clothing (19), hunting sports (20), and medical purposes (21). Animals are also used for labour (22), sport (23), as entertainment (24), and as pets (25). Due to a lack of data collected on resource usage, waste production, and environmental effects in many areas of domestic and wild animal exploitation, the full environmental and health costs are greatly underestimated. Other than the statistics regarding food farmed animals, only the area of companion animal exploitation has been recorded (26).
Download the document below to read the full list of the latest citations of evidence as to how animal exploitation undermines the progress of SDG Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
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
