Water use in livestock production systems and supply chains ? Guidelines for assessment

ANNE-MARIE BOULAY AND OTHER AUTHORS AND PARTICIPANTS; CIVIT, B

FAO

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2019 p. 130

978-92-5-131713-6

These guidelines are a product of the Livestock Environmental Assessment andPerformance (LEAP) Partnership, a multi-stakeholder initiative whose goal isto improve the environmental sustainability of livestock supply chains throughbetter methods, metrics and data.Water is essential to life and crucial for agricultural food production. Duringthe last century, irrigation played an important role in increasing and stabilizing crop yields leading to significant improvements in food security and nutrition in many countries. According to OECD (2010), approximately 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawal is used in agriculture, and a large share goes on feed and livestock production (Opio et al., 2011).The growth of the world population is increasing the competition between sectors, users and regions. There is an urgent need to improve the understanding of global water supply and demand in livestock production, as well as the resource efficiency.The goal of the methodology developed in these guidelines is to introduce aharmonized international approach for assessing livestock production systemsand supply chains. This work aimed at building consensus for water use assessment in order to report blue water scarcity footprints and to identify actions for improvement in water management. Overlooking or miscounting water use has often resulted in misinterpretation of the water footprint of livestock products and also in setting sustainable dietary recommendations. Furthermore, assessing water use is essential to monitor progress towards some of the Goals of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.The objectives of these guidelines are:?To develop a harmonized, science-based approach resting on a consensusamong the sector?s stakeholders;?To recommend scientific, but at the same time practical, approaches thatbuild on existing or developing methodologies;?To promote harmonised approaches to assess water flows, relevant forglobal livestock supply chains;?To identify the principal areas where ambiguity or differing views existconcerning the methodological framework.During the development process, these guidelines were submitted for technical review and public review. The purpose was to strengthen the advice providedand ensure the technical document meets the needs of those seeking to improveenvironmental performance through sound assessment practice. This documentis not intended to remain static. It will be updated and improved as the sectorevolves and more stakeholders become involved in LEAP, and as new methodsand data become available. The guidelines developed by the LEAP Partnershipgain strength because they represent a multi-actor coordinated cross-sectoraland international effort to harmonize environmental assessment approaches.Ideally, the harmonization leads to greater understanding, transparent applica-tion and communication of metrics, and, not least, real and measurable improvement in environmental performance.Caroline Emond, International Dairy Federation (LEAP chair 2019)Ruy Fernando Gil, Uruguay (LEAP chair 2018)Pablo Manzano, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)(LEAP chair 2017)Hsin Huang, International Meat Secretariat (IMS) (LEAP chair 2016)Henning Steinfeld, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) (LEAP co-chair)