RIA: Revista Investigaciones Agropecuarias (Apr 2013)
Inventario de metano entérico de los sistemas de producción de carne para San Luis en el año 2009
Abstract
Pollution and global warming is an issue that has great social impact, addressing the emission of Green-House Gases (GHG) from different angles, as in the case of the livestock sector while contributing to global warming may also help mitigate the effect of these gases, reducing the carbon footprint of their products.Argentina integral Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Law No. 24.295), with the signing ofthe Kyoto Protocol (Law No. 25.438) assumed the responsibility for reducing GHG emissions, among otherobligations. The latest reports to the Convention United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC),show that emissions from the Argentine agricultural sector represent approximately 50% of total GHGs, whichmore than 35% is methane, almost exclusively the product of enteric fermentation in cattle. However, a criticalanalysis of such inventories, it is appropriate to improve in the source data base, integrating not only the animalcategories, but also with production systems and offers fodder, avoiding the use of default factors proposedby the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In this context, the objectives of this study wereto obtain better data quality of the livestock involved in the preparation of national inventories, thus, estimatedenteric methane emissions, through a detailed characterization of systems for beef and San Luis. Using theIPCC Tier II methodology, the emission of CH4 from enteric systems of beef production in the province for 2009 was 2.128,82 Gg CO2eq. (Gg carbon dioxide equivalent). While the contribution to the total emission is low, the province will mean a social cost of 13,04 kg CO2eq./kg meat, aggravated by the trend of recent years the increase in cattle stock. On this basis, the need for strategic changes in production systems, turning the meat chain in the province that is environmentally sustainable, socially and economically.
