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The Barsac Declaration: Environmental Sustainability and the Demitarian Diet1. RECOGNIZING THAT: Current agricultural production practices have multiple environmental consequences, including pollution threats to air, land and water, climate and biodiversity; 2. AFFIRMING THAT: a. Global food security is a major challenge, dependent on the supply and use of synthetic nitrogen and other fertilizers; b. Global energy security is expected to depend increasingly on the use of agricultural land and synthetic fertilizers to produce bioenergy and biofuels; 3. ACKNOWLEDGING THAT: a. The farming of animals to produce food is fundamentally less efficient than the production of plant-based foods, due to losses of nutrients to the environment, because,
b. Rates of nitrogen pollution have increased substantially in many parts of the world, linked to increased human population, as well as increased per capita consumption of animal products; c. The increased pollution of the environment from farming of animal products includes:
4. CONSIDERING THAT: a. Nutrient losses from farming systems represent a financial loss to farmers of the investment in purchasing fertilizers, as well as a waste of the energy used to produce nitrogen fertilizers, b. Several activities are already ongoing internationally under multilateral environmental agreements to foster the use of agricultural systems and measures that improve nutrient use efficiency and reduce nutrient losses, including the work of:
5. WE HERE AFFIRM THAT, a. In addition to actions by governments, responsibility for the environment rests with individuals and that the personal choices of all of us make a difference; b. Our own food choices have a significant effect on the environment, by altering the requirements for different agricultural activities; 6. ACKNOWLEDGING THAT: a. For many developed countries, individuals eat more animal products than is necessary for a healthy balanced diet, so that, for many people, reducing per capita meat consumption has the potential to give significant health benefits; b. In many developing countries, increased nutrient availability is needed to improve diets, while in other developing countries, per capita consumption of animal products is fast increasing to levels which are less healthy and environmentally unsustainable; c. For the reasons outlined above, reducing per capita consumption of animal products in the developed world has the potential to improve nutrient use efficiency, reduce overall production costs and reduce environmental pollution; d. While vegetarianism represents an option for some, this remains an unwanted ambition for many people, e. There is a need to encourage options of medium ambition, making it easier for those who choose to reduce the consumption of animal products; 7. WE DECLARE OUR COMMITMENT TO: a. Encourage the availability of reduced portion sizes of meat and animal products, compared with current standards in developed countries, for the preparation of healthy meals, b. Implement this commitment through promotion of the ‘demitarian' option, which we define as a meal containing half the amount of meat or fish compared with the normal local alternative, combined with a correspondingly larger amount of other food products, c. Promote availability of the demitarian option when organizing conferences, workshops and other meetings, allowing those in attendance to choose between each of a:
d. Promote the clear labelling of menu options especially when buffet meals are served, e. Encourage the wider development of demitarian diets, as a contribution to both healthy eating and protection of the environment; 8. IN MAKING THIS COMMITMENT WE NOTE THAT: a. The demitarian approach complements the well known option of not eating meat on certain days of the week, offering additional flexibility in reducing the consumption of meat products; b. The choice to eat meat is an issue linked to personal responsibility, ethics and religion; reducing meat portion sizes through the demitarian approach encourages the idea of ‘making meat special'; c. Dairy farming activities also have significant impact on the environment; further research should be encouraged to analyze the relative roles of meat and dairy consumption choices in relation to both the environment and human health; d. While traditional agricultural practices play an important role in managing the rural environment, contributing significantly to cultural heritage, agriculture is under a period of rapid change in many countries with upscaling of farming operations potentially threatening this cultural heritage; the environmental risks and opportunities require further investigation; 9. THIS DECLARATION a. Is a personal initiative developed by the undersigned scientists and other experts linked to the:
b. Was developed on 29 October 2009 at Barsac, France at the joint workshop of the NinE and BEGIN programmes, involving experts from the TFRN, INI, COST 729 and NitroEurope; it was drafted on 16-18 November 2009 during the INI Workshop on Nitrogen Deposition, Critical Loads and Biodiversity at Edinburgh, Scotland, involving experts from these networks; and was launched on 24 November 2009, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, during the third meeting of the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen; c. Shall be opened for public endorsement on 25 November 2009 at the following address: www.nine-esf.org; d. May be updated in future under the coordination of the Nitrogen in Europe (NinE) programme, in collaboration with the communities of the BEGIN programme, the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen, the International Nitrogen Initiative, COST 729, NitroEurope and other partnerships. SIGNED: |
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The demitarian option
I am completely in favour of promoting the 'demitarian' option.
According to EFMA (2009), in order to supply the future food requirements of the soon over 9 billions people on earth, it will be necessary either to increase cultivated areas at the expense of natural land (‘goodbye to the Amazonian forest’!) or to generalize intensive industrial agricultural practices (‘welcome to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and GMO’s’). There might be a third way: eating less meat in industrial countries!
Presently, people from France, UK, Germany and the US are consuming as much as 65% of their total protein intake as animal products. Because the mean conversion efficiency of vegetal into animal proteins is 17%, these countries have to produce (or import) over 10 times more vegetal protein for feeding animals, than they consume directly. When cattle are fed with grass in places where other forms of agriculture would be difficult, this make sense; when animals are fed with cereals and legumes, thus directly competing with direct human nutrition, this is difficult to justify. Reducing the share of animal protein in human diet by a factor of 2 would increase by 150% the amount of food available.
In the traditional diet associated to the pre Haber-Bosch agrarian systems of the western world, based on a close association of livestock farming and agriculture, with animal manure, produced from nitrogen fixing fodder plants, being the only way to fertilize arable land, the share of animal proteins was about 35% (exactly the demitarian option!). Meat and milk were in a way a by-product of livestock, primarily grown for producing manure for cereal crops; meat consumption was mainly associated with feast circumstances. Adopting the demitarian diet in western countries means reviving the right place meat once had in traditional gastronomy. Beside reducing our ‘foodprint’ on the environment, it is a wonderful opportunity to rediscover the taste of vegetables!
Gilles Billen, Paris
Animals.
Great inititive! By changing
Great inititive! By changing our eating habits we can help our own health and also the environment. Judging from how many people exhibit symptoms of the animal protein poisoning, especially in the developed countries, reducing meat consumption could also substantially reduce costs of the health care. Another comment - information on atmospheric nitrogen deposition should be made known to the agricultural sector. That could help farmers in calculating optimal amounts of N fertilizers used for efficient crop production.
translations ?
Great initiative! The text deserves to be translated for communication with non-scientist meat consumers from non-anglophone countries, please post a link if translations are available
Things surely will be changed because we are moving!
Food security and energy security are of great importance especially to these countries with huge populations such as China and India. It is obviously that social and environmental sustainability are great challenges for these coutries. Chinese government has already recognized these problems during rapid development. Currently lots of measures are taken to reduce pollution and energy consumption per GDP. However, I realize that public education and personal actions(which is very important) are not sufficient. I would like to introduce the Barsac Declaration to my friends and as many people as I can. We are moving and surely we will make a difference!
Congratulations
Great job, congratulations for such a brilliant contribution on this crucial subject. As an Italian scientist and professor of agronomy at Veterinary College here in Udine, I do agree on your positions and will be open for future interactions. On the other hand, I feel that the impact of dairy food industry on the environment is not a trivial one. Provided other people agree, I would suggest to emphasize it in the Declaration. Regards, F. Miceli
The Barsac Declaration
I agree in principal, though it feels there could be some "loopholes". I have added my name, but I feel the idea wouldn't work as it stands. I am already a vegetarian (unless there's no immediate choice of menu!) and I would like to know more about the effects on the environment of dairy agriculture and egg production. Section 8c mentions that the relative roles of meat/dairy agriculture regarding environment and health are not known. Nothing is mentioned about chicken farms for chicken meat and egg production. Should the declaration also mention something about encouraging natural organic methods of food production? And sourcing locally to avoid cost and pollution from transport? A demitarian diet that promotes artificially fertilized intensive chicken farms for egg production and dairy farming for milk and cheese wouldn't necessarily work? Should this declaration encompass all non-vegetable protein? Is the dietary issue one of over-consumption of non-veg protein (rather than simply meat) in the developed world? A demitarian diet that encourages reducing all non-veg protein AND *local* food production which does not rely heavily on artificial fertilizers, but includes a balance of animal and vegetable (fertilized by animal or green manure) might be more effective? Sue Owen
Fantastic initiative!