Climate change and animal production

Frequently the terms "greenhouse effect" and "climate change" are treated indiscriminately by the mass media, even though conceptually refer to totally different processes, because while the first is a natural phenomenon resulting from the uptake by molecules of gases present in the terrestrial atmosphere of the thermal energy reflected by the surface of the planet, thus warming the planet in a similar way as it happens in a greenhouse, the second one is a process originated by the peculiarities inherent to the socio-economic systems and by their motive forces, those that together determine the emission levels to the atmosphere of natural and artificial gases as a result of the development, with the capacity to heat the atmosphere in addition to the greenhouse effect. The agricultural sector, characterized as an open production system, is one of the most linked and most vulnerable to climate change. The sustained increase in the average temperature of the air, the modification of the rains and the increase in the mean sea level vary their effects depending on the animal component and the conditions of the country. The main sources of emission in the chain are the production and processing of animal feed (45% of the total), the methane emissions by enteric digestion (39%) and the decomposition of excreta (10%). The adoption of the best existing practices and technologies for the preparation of animal feed, for the care and health of the herd and for the handling of excreta could allow the reduction of up to 30% of their emissions. This is the future scenario that the Latin American animal production will probably face in the next 15-20 years and depending on it, each type of production, in its specific conditions, will have to identify what negative impacts it should expect and design the alternatives that will allow it mitigate them as much as possible