CARGANDO

BEST LIVESTOCK PRACTICES

SUSTAINABLE LIVESTOCK,
PRODUCING AND CONSERVING IS POSSIBLE.

Beef production is fundamental for global food security since it plays a prominent role in the economies, culture and diets of countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. However, most of the current livestock production systems in South America are based on the transformation of natural ecosystems, which causes biodiversity and ecosystem services loss, contributes to climate change, and increases the risks of desertification, droughts and floods.

Within the framework of the Eat4Change project, Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, WWF Brazil and WWF Paraguay created this Platform of Best Livestock Practices, which describes how to achieve sustainable livestock farming that allows beef production and conservation of natural environments, its biodiversity, ecosystem services, while at the same time contributing to the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

The regions of Amazon, Cerrado, Gran Chaco, Pantanal y Pampas cover around 65% of South America. They are composed of extensive forests, wetlands, grasslands, and savannahs that are essential to regulate climate, carbon, and water cycles, and are home to unique biodiversity, including many endangered and endemic species.

However, in recent decades thousands of hectares have been transformed for agriculture. This has been due, among others, to an increase in livestock numbers and the displacement of livestock to more marginal areas due to the increase in commodity production. Between 2000 and 2019, approximately 56 million hectares of native ecosystems 1 were converted to agriculture in these 5 regions (almost 8% of the 788 million hectares analyzed), an area larger than the Republic of Paraguay

THE FIVE REGIONS IN ARGENTINA, BRAZIL AND PARAGUAY

  • AMAZON

    Andre Dib / WWF Brasil

  • PANTANAL

    WWF Brasil

  • CERRADO

    WWF Brasil

  • GRAN CHACO

    Yawar Films / Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina

  • PAMPAS

    Mario Beade / Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina

ECOSYSTEMS WE NEED TO CONSERVE

Natural environments provide essential ecosystem services for life on Earth. They help mitigate climate change, regulate water cycles, contribute to food security and economic development, possess enormous biological diversity, and provide habitat for plants and animals, many of which are threatened with extinction. The protection, sustainable use and restoration of natural environments ensures the health and quality of life of the people and the biodiversity that inhabits them.

© Andre Dib / WWF Brasil

Forests

Forests are home to more than half of all terrestrial biodiversity and are the ancestral lands of numerous indigenous and local communities. Between 2004 and 2017, 43 million hectares of forests were lost in the main agricultural frontiers of the world . Unsustainable food production is responsible for 80% of global deforestation .

© WWF Brasil

Grasslands and Savannahs

More than half of our planet’s land surface is dominated by these ecosystems, which are extremely rich in biodiversity, produce 60% of the food we eat, contain a third of terrestrial carbon, and are home to a quarter of the world’s population. However, they are currently among the most threatened and scarce ecosystems in the world: 1.7 million hectares of grasslands and savannahs are converted annually, and half of the land suitable for cultivation has already been transformed. Moreover, more than 25% of the grasslands are degraded and less than 10% is protected globally .

©Mario Beade / Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina

Wetlands

Areas which surface are flooded permanently or intermittently for different periods of time. Wetlands provide food, freshwater, harbor great biodiversity, buffer droughts and floods, and are important carbon stocks. However, between 1970 and 2015, about 35% of the planet’s wetlands disappeared, at a rate three times faster than forests. The main causes have been changes in land use, and in particular, agriculture and unsustainable urbanization .

© Silas Miotti / WWF Brasil

THREATS

The expansion of the agricultural frontier to incorporate land for livestock and annual crop production has generated a strong process of transformation, degradation and conversion of natural ecosystems in the five regions.

This has caused great negative impacts, such as:

  • Biodiversity loss
  • Soil degradation
  • Decrease in the provision of vital ecosystem services
  • Increase in greenhouse gas emissions
  • Expulsion of local communities

AREA OF EACH REGION

Area (ha) of remaining natural or semi-natural terrestrial vegetation and area converted to agricultural use as of 2019, for the portion of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay of each region. Ad hoc analysis using MapBiomas data.

  • Natural or semi-natural area
  • Converted area
  • Other land uses

  • Amazon

    83%
    14%
    3%

  • Cerrado

    54%
    45%
    1%

  • Gran Chaco

    80%
    17%
    3%

  • Pampas

    30%
    70%

  • Pantanal

    79%
    15%
    6%

SITUATION OF BEEF PRODUCTION

Livestock farming is of great importance to national economies, both for the domestic and export markets, and is an activity that involves large areas in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, especially in the regions of the Amazon, Cerrado, Gran Chaco, Pantanal y Pampas

Latin America and the Caribbean have more than 426 million cattle, which constitutes about half of the regional agricultural GDP and represents a fifth of the beef produced globally .

CATTLE STOCK IN THE AMAZON, CERRADO, PANTANAL, GRAN CHACO AND PAMPAS

Vumber of head, in millions.

  • Brasil
    80
    CERRADO
    40
    AMAZON
    3.6
    PANTANAL
  • Argentina
    34
    PAMPAS
    19.6
    GRAN CHACO
  • Paraguay
    6.3
    GRAN CHACO

(SENASA, 2020; IBGE, 2020, SENACSA, 2021).

Amazon, Cerrado, Gran Chaco, Pantanal y Pampas represent a very important portion of the region’s beef production.

In the process of agriculturization livestock areas are gradually transformed into agricultural ones with the appearance of technologies that make land use change viable, producing a shift in livestock production to less productive areas, but with high conservation value.

At the same time, the conversion of natural environments to pasture due to livestock intensification threatens the remnants of natural forests and grasslands in all regions.

BEST LIVESTOCK PRACTICES

The implementation of best livestock practices (BLP) can be a powerful instrument to achieve sustainable development, combining economic growth, conservation of forests and natural grasslands, generation of jobs and maintenance of local culture. Due to its great territorial deployment, cattle ranching is an activity that involves large surfaces in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Therefore, under the implementation of best livestock practices, sustainable livestock can conserve natural ecosystems while producing quality food.

Under what criteria should best livestock practices be implemented?

  1. Integrating livestock farming with the natural environment. For example, correctly implemented silvopastoral systems that conserve natural areas, Forest Management with Integrated Livestock Management (MBGI) or cattle ranching in natural pastures.
  2. Livestock systems in already converted areas should maximize their production and be able to enrich and restore the natural environment in strategic sectors of the farm.

BLP are applicable under the following assumptions:

The producer complies with the environmental, labor, and fiscal legislation of each country.

Management applied in areas of the farm covered by natural ecosystems (forests, grasslands, and wetlands) minimizes or avoids the conversion of these ecosystems.

Rotation of agriculture with livestock is promoted in areas that have already been converted.

A Management Plan is drafted that anticipates climate variability and has an action plan for different climate scenarios.

Consideration is given to governmental BLP initiatives and protocols.

Health, animal welfare and traceability are promoted.

Consideration is given to the traditional use of natural resources by indigenous peoples and communities.

The use of agrochemicals is avoided or minimized.

Local employment is promoted, and a gender approach is incorporated.

Promotion of grass-fed production, with nutritional supplementation.

The use of external inputs is minimized.

A fair income is guaranteed for the producer to ensure the economic sustainability of the productive system.

© Yawar Films / Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina