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WWF (2017). 'Appetite for Destruction'

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WWF (2017). 'Appetite for Destruction' APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION About WWF WWF is the world’s leading independent conservation organisation. We’re creating solutions to the most CONTENTS important environmental challenges facing the planet. We work with communities, businesses and governments in over 100 countries to help people and 4 FOREWORD nature thrive. Together, we’re safeguarding the natural world, tackling dangerous climate change and enabling people to use only their fair share of natural resources. 5 GLOSSARY, ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Food is at the heart of many key environmental issues WWF works on. Growing, producing and importing food contributes substantially to climate change. It’s a 7 INTRODUCTION driving force behind habitat and biodiversity loss. And it’s a huge drain on water resources. That’s why helping 8 ANIMAL FEED – THE LINK BETWEEN FOOD, to develop a sustainable food system for healthy people and a healthy planet is one of WWF’s priorities. BIODIVERSITY AND HEALTH Find out more about our work at wwf.org.uk/food 8 GROWTH OF THE FEED INDUSTRY 16 LINKING INDUSTRIALISED FOOD PRODUCTION AND FEED 17 Chicken and pork – the largest feed eaters 19 Seafood 20 ANIMAL FEED AND HEALTH 20 OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID 22 WHAT CAN BE DONE? 22 ADOPTING A HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE DIET 24 FEED INNOVATIONS 24 Algae 25 Integrated aquaculture 25 Insects and food wastes 27 CONCLUSION Cover photo © Martin Harvey / WWF Contributors Viera Ukropcova, Sarah Halevy Design madenoise.com October 2017 © NATUREPL.COM / ANDY ROUSE WWF 4 APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION 5 FOREWORD GLOSSARY, ACRONYMS At WWF we recognise the impact our food system has on biodiversity. AND ABBREVIATIONS Agroecology: defined by the IMTA: Integrated multi-trophic Through our work on sustainable diets, we know a lot of people are International Panel of Experts on aquaculture, a synergistic approach aware of the ramifications of a meat-based diet – its effect on water, Sustainable Food Systems as a form of to aquatic production where the waste land and habitats, and the implications of its associated greenhouse gas farming that replaces chemicals with products from one species provide feed or emissions. But few know the largest impact comes from the crop-based biology. It looks at the entire food system fertiliser for another feed the animals eat. As we investigated why this is so we realised that and promotes agricultural practices that for many, what we buy and eat is too far removed from the biodiversity Intensive farming/intensification: are adapted to local environments and it impacts upon. usually used to describe a farming system stimulate beneficial biological interactions that increases the output per unit of land As consumers we’re disconnected from where our food comes from. between different plants and species to area by increasing inputs such as fertiliser, Understanding where the feed supplied to our livestock industry comes build long-term fertility and soil health feed and technology. In terms of animal from, and the impact this has on global biodiversity, is therefore a tall order. Algae: diverse group of photosynthetic husbandry, these systems are characterised But, it’s not something we at WWF want to shy away from. With this report, organisms that range in size from single by selected breeds, dense populations on we hope to help people – in particular policy-makers and business leaders – cells to large spreading seaweeds limited land requiring manufactured food, Duncan Williamson make the initial connections between food, feed and biodiversity, and open Animal products: all food products water and medical inputs Food Policy Manager, WWF a space to identify solutions. from animal sources, including milk, eggs, Livestock: animals – including chickens, Appetite for destruction is based on two reports prepared for WWF cheese, chicken meat, beef, sausages, fish pigs and fish – raised and used for profit in 2016: A risk benefit analysis of mariculture as a means to reduce the and seafood Mariculture: fish and shellfish farmed in impacts of terrestrial production of food and energy by ABP Marine Aquaculture: farming fish and shellfish the sea and along the coast Environmental Research Ltd, and Environmental impacts of livestock either on land in tanks, rivers, ponds and Omega-3: a class of essential unsaturated feed by 3Keel LLP. Producing these reports took us on a journey from lakes or in seas and along the coast fatty acids farming the oceans to land-use change, through soy to our plates. It CO : carbon dioxide showed us that not only is business as usual not desirable, it won’t be 2 Organic: agricultural systems with possible from a climate, water and land perspective. We’ll need to go Crop feeds: crops used in the production strict limits on the use of agrochemicals, beyond production improvement and waste reduction and move into of animal feed, including maize, soy, instead relying on natural pest control innovation and look at what we are eating, globally. sorghum and rice and fertilisers. Other key elements include DHA: docosahexaenoic acid, a high animal welfare standards and the Biodiversity is disappearing at an astonishing rate due to the food we eat nutritionally important omega-3 fatty acid prohibition of routine use of antibiotics and and the feed we supply our livestock industry, yet its key to a resilient genetically modified crops. Often used as food system. Eutrophication: excessive richness of an example of extensive farming nutrients in a lake or other body of water, In order to address this problem we’ll need to communicate, convene and which causes a dense growth of plant life Pelagic fish: fish that inhabit the water innovate. Already, WWF has a fantastic track record here. We’ve helped and is harmful to species in the affected column instead of the shore or seabed, such establish vital schemes directly relevant to food, feed and biodiversity – ecosystem as anchovies, sardines and herrings including the Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS), the Roundtable on Extensive farming: farming system Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council which uses small amounts of labour and (ASC). And we’ve led the way on sustainable diets with our Livewell work. capital in relation to land being farmed, Now, we’re at the forefront of feed invitation. Project-X’s FEED-X is a WWF producing a lower yield per unit of land in programme which aims to help the aquaculture industry identify, test and contrast to intensive farming scale-up new alternative feed ingredients, including insects and algae. It’ll Fish: as used in this report, includes all seek to drive consensus on the most scalable and sustainable feeds and fish and shellfish accelerate the uptake of these ingredients. Greenhouse gas emissions: emissions We’re a convening partner of the Protein Challenge 2040, an innovative of gases such as carbon dioxide and coalition which addresses the complexities of our protein supply chain. Here methane that trap heat in the Earth’s our focus is on increasing consumption of plant-based protein, and scaling atmosphere and are the primary cause of up sustainable feed innovations to meet the demand for animal protein. climate change Appetite for destruction is a vital piece of work that clearly sets out what we believe to be one of the biggest challenges to our food system and the threats this poses to global biodiversity. With this we invite actors throughout the food system to work with us to address these issues and deliver a healthy, biodiverse-rich future. 7 INTRODUCTION WWF’s vision is a future where people and nature thrive together. Ensuring that all people have easy access to sufficiently nourishing food is an essential part of this future. However, today’s food system occupies ever more land, uses more freshwater resources, and contributes significantly to environmental degradation, habitat loss and climate change. These impacts in turn drive wide-scale biodiversity loss and extinctions, making once abundant species rare, and threatening the future of important ecosystems. The UK food supply alone is directly linked to the extinction of an estimated 33 species at home and abroad1. As well as undermining the nature that we This report looks at the impacts of our depend on, today’s food system is under current and anticipated consumption of pressure from a growing global population animal protein – and in particular the which is expected to surpass nine billion by often hidden impacts of animal feed. 2050. Three billion people are set to enter Tracing the trajectory of land use for feed the global middle classes2,3,4, with a majority production – in particular soy and maize living in urban areas as we see the rise of 41 – we make it clear that business-as-usual megacities with 10 million or more residents isn’t an option. We investigate the link by 20305. As people move from the between feed and industrialised animal countryside to cities and become wealthier, produce, with a focus on chicken, pork they tend to increase their calorie intake and fish. We link the increased use of feed and move toward a Western-style diet with to the reduced nutritional value of the more meat, dairy and processed foods. With animal products, before exploring solutions a growing demand for resource-intensive through changing diets and alternative feed animal products comes an increased need production systems. for animal feed, putting further strain on land, water resources and biodiversity. As We believe it’s possible to reconnect food well as threatening the future of our living production with nature and nutritional planet, this has serious implication for food requirements, guaranteeing everyone security, health and well-being. affordable, nutritious and tasty food, as well as space for nature to thrive. But this will require fundamental changes in our food system, from production to consumption.
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