The impact of industrial rabbit breeding on the environment
Abstract
This review article presents some elements that allow us to quantify the main contributions of rabbit farming to global warming, pollution (mainly nitrogen losses, particulate matter in the air), water footprint and biodiversity loss. Since the vast majority of meat rabbits in the world are raised in closed cage systems, the bulk of research only covers this production system.
The only attempt has been made to quantify the environmental impact of an alternative system based on raising rabbits under photovoltaic panels. Although it gives some idea of possible alternatives, the results obtained are not based on real data.
Regarding the contribution of rabbit farming to global warming, estimates of greenhouse gas emissions range from 3.13 to 3.25 kg CO2 eq. per rabbit over 35 days (or from 3.78 to 4.04 kg CO2 eq. per kilogram of live weight). Pollution related to nitrogen losses ranged from 40.1 to 59.1 g nitrogen per kg live weight. Air pollution related to particulate matter (10 μm) emissions ranged from 0.082 to 0.045 mg per m3, and there are no data on the impact on water, which is probably between those observed for poultry and pig farming. Regarding biodiversity loss, there are no studies on the actual impact of rabbit farming on wildlife (flora and fauna). As for greenhouse gas emissions, they may be related to land use change for agricultural crops, mainly soybeans, which are used for feed production. Wild rabbits, however, can be considered a keystone species of Mediterranean scrub.
For rabbit farming (in its current form), alternatives that have been tried in other livestock production systems, including crop-livestock integration, agroforestry and agroecology, may not be possible. The current socio-economic and political context may limit the evolution of existing food production systems and the development of alternative models. Furthermore, the rabbit farming sector, at least in Europe, is facing a steady decline in demand. This fact will certainly not help us find alternatives unless policies are put in place to support the necessary evolution.
It is currently not possible to assess the environmental impact of alternative rabbit meat production systems. This is partly because they are still rare or experimental. Second, the reference methodologies used to estimate greenhouse gas emissions may not be sufficiently adapted, leading to biased estimates. The lack of harmonization of current methodologies used to assess the environmental impacts of livestock farming, at least for life cycle assessment methodologies, is an additional limitation.
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