Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is responsible for a substantial portion of the current global warming caused by human activities, leading to significant environmental damage worldwide.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, livestock supply chains are estimated to account for 14.5 per cent of total human-induced GHG emissions and it is estimated that about 80 per cent of the GHG emissions from livestock and 90 per cent of CH4 emissions, is derived from ruminant livestock.
Reducing methane levels in the atmosphere by 30 per cent could prevent an average global temperature increase of more than 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2050.
The country’s Livestock and Dairy Development Project (LDDP) is working under the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) to reduce methane emissions from the livestock sector and build a "climate-resilient livestock" sector.
To achieve this, several steps have been taken, including farm management training, increased use of technology, and raising awareness among farmers.
The LDDP has enlisted the FAO to research the effectiveness of the project's measures, with the FAO set to conduct the study and prepare a report in the next few months.
Project officials said that this kind of research is the first in Bangladesh; therefore, the results will serve as a basis for further studies, helping the government make informed decisions on the matter in the future.
Effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on livestock
According to the government's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) implementation roadmap, climate change has both direct and indirect impacts on livestock.
Global climate change is expected to alter temperature, precipitation, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and water availability, affecting the productivity of crop and livestock systems.
Additionally, rising sea levels will inundate new coastal areas, reducing grazing areas and fodder production, thereby impacting livestock.
Like humans, livestock and poultry may suffer from natural disasters, higher temperatures, salinity intrusions, and floods.
Compared to other sectors, there have been very few economic analyses on the climatic effects on the livestock sector worldwide.
The most significant impacts of climate change on the livestock sector include reduced grazing areas, fodder shortages, decreased growth, and reduced production of milk, meat, and eggs.
Livestock analysts note that heat stress in animals can reduce feed intake and processing by up to 25 per cent.
For example, in 2007, Cyclone Sidr hit 17 districts in the coastal region of Bangladesh, causing enormous losses to livestock.
The preliminary damage and loss assessment for crops, livestock, and fisheries was estimated at BDT 30.2 billion (US$ 437.6 million), according to a report by the Government of Bangladesh with financial support from the European Commission.
How livestock is responsible for methane emission
Analysts said that methane gas is produced from various sources in livestock. For example, it is produced during the digestion process of animals and emitted through belching.
Additionally, methane gas is produced from animal excrement left on the farm. The United Nations environmental data collection agency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Monitoring Service (GHGSat), detected the amount of methane emissions from animal belching on a farm in California, USA, through their satellite last February.
Analysing the data, it was found that the amount of methane emitted from a single feedlot in one month would amount to 5,116 tonnes of methane in one year. This amount of methane could supply electricity to more than 15,000 houses.
LDDP initiatives for climate-resilient livestock
The Paris Agreement calls for a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector by 2030, according to FAO report.
To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 at the latest and decline by 43 per cent by 2030.
At the end of COP26 in Glasgow, UK, 150 countries, including 15 major emitters, signed the Global Methane Pledge, committing to reduce methane gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
In line with the pledge, Bangladesh has also planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as per the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) agreement. Consequently, the government has initiated work in different sectors, including the livestock sector.
Golam Rabbani, chief technical coordinator (CTC) of the LDDP, said, "We are trying to build a climate-smart livestock sector in Bangladesh, as the greenhouse gas emission intensity against livestock production in the sub-continent is higher."
“To achieve this, LDDP has taken several initiatives, including dedicated components for risk mitigation and climate resilience in LDDP, animal productivity improvement and technology dissemination, construction of climate-smart animal sheds as demonstrations, promotion of climate-smart manure management systems, extension of high-yielding feed (HYF) production, processing for silage, and total mixed ration (TMR) production,” he said.
"We are working on funding research projects to strengthen research-extension linkages, building awareness among farmers through mass communication, awarding productive farmers or entrepreneurs, and providing policy support for organisational development," Rabbani added.
LDDP officials also mentioned efforts to replace low-productive cattle with high-producing breeds, improve feed through a balanced diet and beneficial microorganisms, and enhance manure management by promoting mini biogas plants.
How FAO research will work and what benchmark will be set
Ripon Kumar Mondal, livestock economist at FAO Bangladesh (FAOBD) and a professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, working at the FAO team, explained that FAO will collect data using the IPCC tier-2 method to prepare an assessment report on the amount of GHG emissions from the livestock sector.
They have selected districts with significant livestock activities, focusing on different important indicators such as administrative boundaries, climate hotspots, animal density, and potentiality.
They will be collecting data from farms that focus on fattening livestock as well as those that produce dairy.
Data on various factors such as animal feeding management, health management, and manure management will be collected and analysed by visiting these areas.
In response to the question of how to determine if GHG emissions have decreased compared to before, Ripon said, "We do not have any previous data, so we do not know how much harmful GHG is being emitted from the farms.”
“We will compare data of LDDP beneficiaries of producer groups (PG) trained under the LDDP with non-beneficiaries. If GHG emissions are found to be decreasing for the LDDP beneficiaries, it will indicate that the initiatives taken by the LDDP are effective," he said.
“If the results show a decrease in emissions, the government can adopt similar measures for all farmers to reduce GHG emissions. Thus, the results of this project will be very useful in two ways- as a basis for further research and to understand the effectiveness of government measures in reducing methane emissions,” he added.
