Energy News  
FARM NEWS
Emissions set to soar as love of steak takes off in Asia
By Dessy SAGITA
Jakarta (AFP) Dec 11, 2015


Study: Climate change causing farmers mental anguish
Perth, Australia (UPI) Dec 11, 2015 - Researchers at Murdoch University in Australia say farmers Down Under have been hit especially hard by climate change.

A new study suggests the consequences among farmers living and working in the wheatbelt, a region in southwestern Australia, are more than environmental and financial -- they're psychological. According to a recent survey, farmers there are beset by mental health problems as a result of shifting weather patterns.

"The South West of Western Australia has experienced abrupt and severe climate change in the last forty years," study author Neville Ellis, a researcher with Murdoch's Centre for Responsible Citizenship and Sustainability, explained in a press release. "Winter rainfall has fallen 20 percent since the 1970s, average temperatures have risen almost a degree since the 1950s and climate extremes like heatwaves, frosts and droughts are more frequent and severe."

Ellis interviewed 22 farmers from the wheatbelt. Their responses suggest wind erosion, drought, heat and shifting, unpredictable weather patterns are negatively affecting their mental well-being.

"Farmers have always worried about the weather but today that worry is becoming detrimental to their mental health and wellbeing," Ellis said. "They feel they have less ability to exert control over their farmlands and as a result are fearful for their future."

For many, these mental problems manifest as anxious behaviors, like incessantly checking weather reports on the phone and computer.

"I also met farmers who track storm systems off the horn of Africa in the hope that the rain will arrive ten days later," Ellis added.

Ellis would like to see more and better mental health resources made available to farmers in the region, with an emphasis on addressing the farmers' unique predicament.

"A GP working in the Wheatbelt told me that many farmers are now suffering a form of 'seasonal affective disorder' -- not from lack of sunlight, but from lack of rain."

For many farmers, a sense of place and a strong connection with the land is an important part of their identity and their mental health. But that connection has been undermined by climatic instability.

"Unfortunately, with all the projections predicting our climate will get hotter and drier, it is only going to get harder for many of these farmers," Ellis said. "While the rains have come in the nick of time over the last two seasons for Wheatbelt farmers, there is no surety that this pattern will continue."

Climate change is the last thing on Maya Puspita Sari's mind as she tucks into a steak and splurges on ice cream, products that were once a luxury but are now a growing staple in the diets of millions of Indonesians.

But the livestock sector is a major contributor to climate change -- accounting for 14.5 percent of the total global amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization -- more than those produced from powering all the world's road vehicles, trains, ships and planes combined.

Emissions are predicted to jump dramatically as demand skyrockets -- the FAO predicts consumption of meat and dairy is expected to have risen 76 per cent and 65 per cent respectively by 2050.

Nowhere is this insatiable appetite growing faster than in Asia, where a huge, new middle class is consuming animal products like never before as tastes change and incomes rise.

Consumers in China and India are driving this trend but demand in emerging economies such as Indonesia -- a country of 250 million with a rapidly growing middle class -- is also tipped to explode.

For consumers like Sari, a 31-year-old accountant living in the cosmopolitan capital Jakarta, livestock products that were once rarely consumed outside major religious holidays, if at all, are now in abundant supply.

She grew up in rural Sumatra eating red meat once or twice a year, with little on offer besides rendang, a traditional spicy beef stew.

"Meat is no longer a luxury now and there are so many choices, like steak," she told AFP. "In Jakarta you can find all kinds of ice cream, yoghurt and other dairy products. It's great."

Christabelle Adeline Palar, a 25-year-old editor at a travel magazine, barely remembers eating meat as a child but now with a disposable income and an array of options, she knows what she wants.

"It's always meat," she said of her daily food choices, "except for days where I need to be more thrifty.

- Growing appetite -

Indonesians still consume less meat than their Asian neighbours -- averaging 2.7 kilograms per person every year, compared to 8 kilograms in Malaysia -- but this is changing. London-based think tank Chatham House ranks Indonesia a top-ten nation for forecast growth in beef, pork and chicken consumption by 2021.

Jakarta and its affluent, densely populated suburbs lead the way in meat consumption. People there -- often young with cash to spare -- eat around 12 kilograms of meat annually.

"Not only can they afford it, but there are many cafes and restaurants in the city that serve meat," Asnawi, chairman of the Indonesian Association of Meat Traders (APDI), who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

Dairy producers are also optimistic. The Indonesian Association of Milk Producers says the market potential for dairy in Southeast Asia's largest economy is "tremendous", while New Zealand's Fonterra declared Indonesia one of its most important global markets when it opened its first local factory in September, predicting soaring demand as the "large and increasingly affluent population" seeks new products.

Nearly 90 per cent of Indonesia's dairy is imported, mainly from New Zealand and Australia, but local producers are also riding the wave as consumption grows.

"Our family only had about 20 cows when we first relocated here. Now we have 70," dairy producer Rahmat said from his small ranch on the outskirts of Jakarta.

- Curbs on consumption -

Ruminant animals emit huge amounts of methane, a gas that is more than 20 times more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping the sun's heat, through belching and flatulence. Nitrous oxide, another potent greenhouse gas, is also released by manure and fertilisers.

Growing population, urbanisation and incomes will increase global demand for meat and dairy, the FAO says, creating a "pressing" need to reduce the livestock sector's environmental footprint.

A 2013 report by the UN body says emissions could be reduced by 30 percent if farmers adopted better practices -- including quality feed, good manure management and improved breeding and animal health. But a recent review by the International Panel on Climate Change found the greatest potential for cutting emissions is a change in consumer habits.

Last year a report by Chatham House warned: "Dietary change is essential if global warming is not to exceed 2C," -- the UN target to limit average global warming -- but public awareness about the link between livestock and climate change remains poor.

In Indonesia, where livestock consumption is just taking off, president Joko Widodo has stated he wants the nation to be self-sustainable in beef production with 2019 the target, according to media reports.

The creation of more cattle ranches could add to deforestation of a land already decimated by demand for palm oil, paper and rice. This year swathes of Southeast Asia choked in a thick haze as a result of slash and burn farming, releasing more greenhouse gases each day than all US economic activity.

Greenpeace Indonesia's Bustar Maitar said: "In Brazil, (livestock) farming activities are conducted on a massive industrial scale. If that's what we're aiming for, of course it would affect our forests."

But convincing people not to eat beef and yoghurt to prevent global warming could be a hard sell when public awareness of climate change is limited.

WWF Indonesia's Nyoman Iswarayoga told AFP: "Our public does not even understand the link between forest fires and emissions, let alone meat consumption. Changing lifestyles and mindsets takes time."


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
FARM NEWS
First fossil peaches discovered in southwest China
University Park PA (SPX) Dec 09, 2015
The sweet, juicy peaches we love today might have been a popular snack long before modern humans arrived on the scene. Scientists have found eight well-preserved fossilized peach endocarps, or pits, in southwest China dating back more than two and a half million years. Despite their age, the fossils appear nearly identical to modern peach pits. The findings, reported last week in Scientifi ... read more


FARM NEWS
Is That a Forest? That Depends on How You Define It

Timelapse from space reveals glacier in motion

Earth's magnetic field is not about to flip

New satellite to measure plant health

FARM NEWS
India's GPS system will have better accuracy says ISRO

Pentagon to re-examine Air Force GPS OCX program

Kongsberg third-generation HiPAP enhances acoustic positioning

More Galileo satellites broadcasting navigation signals

FARM NEWS
US forest products in the global economy

N. Korea 'declares war' on deforestation at Paris climate talks

At UN talks, African countries aim to restore 100 mn hectares of forest

Eyes in the sky track health of Earth's African 'lung'

FARM NEWS
Plant-inspired power plants

OX2 wins concession for one of Sweden's largest biogas plants

A more efficient way of converting ethanol to a better alternative fuel

Now is the time to uncover the secrets of the Earth's microbiomes

FARM NEWS
Saint Lucia showcases its renewable energy transition

Clean energy innovators ready to scale up operations

New approaches for hybrid solar cells

China energy giant CGN strikes 1.6bn euro French solar deal

FARM NEWS
UN report takes global view of 'green energy choices'

Dogger Bank lidar confirms technology meets met masts for wind data collection

U.S. offshore wind project wraps up inaugural construction season

Pilot Hill Wind Project Closes Financing from GE and MetLife

FARM NEWS
Hard economic lessons as China's coal boom ends

Poland's coal addiction exacts heavy health, economic toll

Coal mine fire in northeast China kills 21: state media

India revisits energy mix

FARM NEWS
China denounces UN rights report as biased, 'incorrect'

Campaigners alarmed by opening of first KFC store in Tibet

Torture 'deeply entrenched' in Chinese justice system: UN watchdog

Key witness against China's Bo Xilai dies in jail: media









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.