TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, December 11. The World Bank has estimated Uzbekistan’s livestock sector’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) emissions at 45.7 million tons of CO2 equivalent, Trend reports.
According to the World Bank's most recent Uzbekistan Country Climate and Development Report, reducing GHG emissions in agriculture, particularly in the livestock sector, is critical to meeting mitigation targets.
"In Uzbekistan, the livestock sector is a rapidly growing emitter." From 1990 to 2017, livestock emissions increased by more than 160 percent, accounting for two-thirds of overall agricultural emissions (57.8 percent from enteric methane plus 9.2 percent from manure management), according to the WB.
The Bank stated that thorough evaluations for the report were conducted using local data and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Tier2 approach, which assessed the cattle sector's GHG emissions at 45.7 million tons of CO2 equivalent.
“Scenario modeling to estimate livestock GHG emissions by 2030 considered GHG mitigation practices, including genetic improvement, health improvement, control of herd growth, and replacement of some ruminant production by poultry. Under the business-as-usual scenario, livestock production growth is achieved mostly through increased herd expansion, which drives GHG emissions in 2030 up 54 percent over the 2022 reference year.
In a productivity scenario, one-third of farms grow and achieve large productivity gains supported by genetic improvement, herd management, and animal health programs. Relative to the business-as-usual scenario, the productivity scenario produces 25.7 percent more animal protein and reduces emission intensity by 6.6 percent, but raises absolute emissions by 17.4 percent,” WB’s analysts state.
According to the World Bank, to achieve similar protein production as in the business-as-usual scenario with a 4.1 percent gain and reduce absolute emissions by 6.2 percent, the productivity and herd control scenario should combine productivity gains with control of herd growth with 20 percent fewer ruminants than in the business-as-usual plan.