Abstract

Projected food demand increases highlight the importance of Latin America as one of the big global future food suppliers, due to its agricultural potential, in particular regarding cattle farming. Despite the importance of the cattle sector for the region, its negative environmental impacts are numerous and the shift toward sustainability is perceived as slow and uncoordinated. This study aims at identifying successes and difficulties in the implementation of public policies for a sustainable cattle sector in Colombia, Argentina, and Costa Rica. Based on the review of scientific articles, government reports, and publications of international organizations, a qualitative comparative analysis was carried out, documenting the political developments between 2010 and 2020. Our findings suggest that public policies mainly focus on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the implementation of silvo-pastoral systems. Common successes exist among the three countries, e.g., a large number of public policies for promoting sustainable cattle farming or the inclusion of goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implement silvo-pastoral systems, but they also coincide in difficulties, e.g., disconnection between policies and the lack of continuity of development programs. The efforts made with regional and national public policies, in addition to legislative advances, can be seen as initial steps in a long-term process toward sustainable cattle farming, and thus, recommendations are provided for increasing their success at different stages, from the identification of the problem to its evaluation, particularly in the face of financing difficulties, disconnection among policies and initiatives, and participation of citizens and livestock producers.

Highlights

  • Framework of ReferenceLatin America and the Caribbean plays an essential role in the global cattle industry since it contributes with more than 25% to the global beef and 10% to the global milk supply (CEPAL, 2017)

  • In the analysis we related fragmented knowledge, contrasted different sources, and updated the existing literature, aiming at clarifying the state of the art of public policies that have promoted the development of a sustainable cattle sector

  • This selection corresponds to the efforts made by the countries to develop a sustainable cattle sector: all of them have ratified the Paris Agreement and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and both Colombia and Argentina have implemented roundtables for sustainable cattle

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Framework of ReferenceLatin America and the Caribbean plays an essential role in the global cattle industry since it contributes with more than 25% to the global beef and 10% to the global milk supply (CEPAL, 2017). The Inter-American Development Bank (BID, 2018) projects a growth in global meat production by 100% until 2050, considering the global population growth—a scenario that would favor Latin American cattle producers due to the region’s geographical position, experience, and human and natural resources. Despite the importance of the sector for the region and its growth potential, the environmental effects of traditional or conventional cattle production systems are multiple and include e.g., impacts on water sources, soil resources, a loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions (IDB, 2018). The cattle sector contributes significantly to global warming and climate change because of deforestation for feed and forage crops, degradation of pastures and greenhouse gas emissions from cattle production (Abbasi et al, 2015)

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call