Photo by Riccardo Chiarini on Unsplash
4.45 million square kilometers of crop land could be saved by reducing yearly meat consumption by 50%, the size of India and Mongolia together.
Just a few days ago, the world celebrated Biodiversity Day and Barcelona-based plant-based meat company Heura aims to continue highlighting the impact that meat consumption has on the world.
“Reducing 50% of livestock production would save 30% of biodiversity loss and therefore 12,000 species every year” extracts Bernat Añaños, the Co-founder of the plant based meat startup Heura, from the report entitled “Appetite for Destruction” and the fact that every day 110 animals and insects species are lost from rainforest destruction. The report shows that 60 percent of all biodiversity loss across the planet can be traced back to livestock production.
In addition, the World Resources Report, Creating a Sustainable Food Future points out that the ongoing expansion of cropland and pastures is the primary source of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss.
In terms of crop land usage, Añaños explains that “by reducing 50% of the animal meat consumption, 4.45 million square kilometers of crop land could be used for agriculture, the size of India and Mongolia together. “Multiplying by 2.5 of the legumes and grain production capacity for human consumption, totaling the size of Australia, we would solve several concerns in terms of biodiversity, climate change and hunger, creating a more sustainable food system.”
This conclusion comes from a research by Greenpeace where it shows that every kg of meat production requires 27,000 square meters of crop land. “Taking into account that in 2017, 330 million tons of animal meat were consumed in the world, we could conclude that each year we use 8.91 million square kilometers only to eat meat. “ explains Añaños.
On top of this, according to FAO, the current amount of agricultural land in the world is roughly 15 million square kilometers and livestock takes up nearly 80% of it, yet produces less than 20% of the world’s supply of calories. “This data shows the incoherence of our current food system and the urge we have to transition to a plant based diet if we want to take care of the biodiversity, the planet and therefore our own health” concludes the co-founder of Heura.
You can do your part by switching to plant-based meat alternatives and/or encouraging others to do the same. With culinary technology at an all time high now more than ever, there are many alternatives, like Heura, that serve to satisfy flavor with no compromise to the animals or our shared planet.
