Livestock Greenhouse Gases emissions and its contribution to Climate Change. The case study of a Cyprus cow farm

Human population is expected to increase from 7.8 to 9.4 billion by 2050. At the same time the demand for agricultural products will increase by about 50-70%. As a result, there is a growing awareness that rapid growth in global production and consumption of livestock products is contributing to serious environmental problems, the most notable being the contribution to climate change. The livestock sector contributes 8-14% of global Greenhouse gases emissions (GHGs). Animal agriculture produces greenhouse gases in the form of CH4 from enteric fermentation, N2O from use of nitrogenous fertilizers, and CH4 and N2O from manure management and deposition of animal manures on pastures, and CO2 from energy consumption. Under the European program ClimaMed LIFE17 CCM-GR-000087, this study focuses on the emissions from a cow farm, in order to identify and evaluate the sources of GHGs emissions, and also to promote mitigation actions. In specific, LIFE ClimaMED aims at developing and delivering innovative, reliable, rapid and cost-effective technologies of Tier 3 level for the on-site measurement of CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions and SOC stock changes from agricultural fields at real time, in order to assist scientists, public authorities and policy makers in collecting, quantifying, evaluating, mapping and reporting spatial data for GHGs emissions and SOC stock changes from the Mediterranean agricultural and livestock sector.