Large greenhouse gas savings due to changes in the post-Soviet food systems

Abstract

As the global food system contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, understanding the sources of GHG emissions embodied in different components of food systems is important. The collapse of the Soviet Union triggered a massive restructuring of the domestic food systems, namely declining consumption of animal products, cropland abandonment, and a major restructuring of agricultural trade. However, how these complex changes have affected global GHG emissions is uncertain. Here, we quantified the net GHG emissions associated with changes in the former Soviet Union's food systems. Changes in food production, consumption, and trade together resulted in a net emissions reduction of 7.61 Gt carbon dioxide equivalents from 1992 to 2011. For comparison, this corresponds to one quarter of the CO 2 emissions from deforestation in Latin America from 1991 to 2011. The key drivers of the emissions reductions were the decreasing beef consumption in the 1990s, increasing beef imports after 2000, mainly from South America, and carbon sequestration in soils on abandoned cropland. Ongoing transformations of the food systems in the former Soviet Union, however, suggest emissions will likely rebound. The results highlight the importance of considering agricultural production, land-use change, trade, and consumption when assessing countries emissions portfolios. Moreover, we demonstrated how emissions reductions that originate from a reduction in the extent and intensity of agricultural production can be compromised by increasing emissions embodied in rising imports of agricultural commodities.

The Great Acceleration of fragrances and PAHs archived in an ice core from Elbrus, Caucasus

“…By the end of 1995, over 35% of the Russian population was living below the official poverty line 57 . The associated changes in food consumption, especially beef, and the vegetation recolonization of abandoned cropland resulted in a net cumulative reduction of carbon dioxide emissions 58 . The financial crisis resulted in the collapse of the ruble in August 1998, even though other European ex-communist republics experienced substantial economic growth during the same time period 56 .…”

Pastoralism at Scale on the Kazakh Rangelands: From Clans to Workers to Ranchers

“…In another process, land that was formerly grazed for many decades is now only being lightly grazed or not at all. Secondly, there have been investigations of how land use changes have affected carbon sequestration in plants and soil, mainly due to abandonment of cropping in the former Virgin Lands region of northern Kazakhstan and some return of livestock grazing (Perez-Quezada et al, 2010;Kurganova et al, 2015;Schierhorn et al, 2019). Thirdly, there are studies on the biodiversity implications of the radically altered livestock grazing pressure patterns and crop cessation (Kamp et al, 2009(Kamp et al, , 2011(Kamp et al, , 2015(Kamp et al, , 2016.…”

“…As rainfed cropping sharply declined with the absence of state support after the end of the USSR, by 2000 about 40% of arable land in Kazakhstan had been withdrawn from cropping over two decades (Kamp et al, 2011;Dara et al, 2020). Some 14.1 Mha of abandoned crop land remains uncultivated (Schierhorn et al, 2019). Over the same period, as has been discussed here, livestock numbers crashed, most of the remaining livestock could not be taken to remote pastures, and instead had to be grazed around villages (Behnke, 2003;Robinson and Milner-Gulland, 2003b;Robinson et al, 2016).…”

Air quality change due to COVID-19 lockdown in India and its perception by public

“…A similar effect was observed in history earlier during the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. There was a signi cant reduction in greenhouse gases attributed to the reduction in meat consumption following the economic slowdown (Schierhorn et al 2019). A study from California showed that economic indicators had a statistically signi cant effect on air pollution levels (Davis 2012).…”