Madre de Dios announces sustainable livestock guidelines in alliance with the Ministry of Agriculture

Posted on 10 julio 2020

The guidelines for sustainable livestock farming in Madre de Dios are prepared jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and the regional Government of Madre de Dios. It seeks to contribute to the decarbonization trajectory of Madre de Dios.

The guidelines for sustainable livestock farming in Madre de Dios are prepared jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and the regional Government of Madre de Dios. It seeks to contribute to the decarbonization trajectory of Madre de Dios.
Government and civil society, with the participation of the Livestock Technical Table, will support the review in Madre de Dios and facilitate its escalation to the Peruvian Amazon with the framework of the Coalition for Sustainable Production.

Peru is the second country with the largest area of tropical forests in Latin America. However, the Peruvian Amazon, which is home to nearly 95% of the country´s forests, has an average annual loss of more than 125 thousand hectares, representing with 51%, the largest contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in one of the countries with the highest risk of extreme weather events.

In the Peruvian Amazon region, livestock farming is a productive sector with the potential to propose its growth on the basis of differentiation in sustainability and attributes of origin and thus be an economic alternative to activities that deforest in addition to meeting national demand, which only in cattle is 6.3 Kg per capita.

According to the analysis of GHG emissions from Peru published by MINAM in 2019, the enteric fermentation emissions, methane generated during the digestion of ruminants, the livestock sector represents 35.5% of the emissions of the agricultural sector (with 9,316.9 Gg CO2eq).

Given this scenario, it can be seen that the livestock sector has a significant impact on GHG emissions, on the change in forest land use and on the country´s food and economic contribution. For these reasons, in order for jurisdictions such as Madre de Dios and San Martin to implement concrete actions within the framework of their decarbonization and low-emission development trajectories, the Working Group of Governors for Climate and Forest (GCF Task Force), with the support of The Climate Group as secretariat for Under2Coalition, promoted the virtual seminar on Sustainable livestock systems for decarbonization trajectories in the Peruvian Amazon.

Representatives of the member governments of the GCF Task Force Under2MOU of Madre de Dios and San Martin, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and WWF Peru, participated in the event, and presented the current state of the sector, the importance of the balance between development and care of ecosystems and job opportunities. For its part, FAO Ecuador shared its experience of the climate-smart livestock project in which, by following the scientific bases to carry out this productive activity, it is possible to maintain the integrity of the environment.

In addition to identifying the priority work topics: direct causes of deforestation, best practices (environmental sustainability) and financing and investment for livestock production development, within the framework of the Coalition for Sustainable Production, an accompaniment group was formed by the government and civil society, with the participation of the Livestock Technical Table, for the review process in Madre de Dios and facilitates its escalation to the whole of the Peruvian Amazon.

At the end of the virtual seminar, it was announced that the guidelines for sustainable livestock farming for this region will be concluded with the participation of MINAGRI and the Regional Government of Madre de Dios in conjunction with the Livestock Technical Roundtable. The driving group will be made up of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, WWF Peru, the GCF Task Force and GOREMAD to accompany the process and escalate the guidelines to the Peruvian Amazon within the framework of the Coalition for Sustainable Production. The GCF Task Force will provide support to support the regional government to advance the work of this community of knowledge.

The plan seeks to be aligned with Peru´s national and international policy as the National Livestock Development Plan 2017 – 2027 and contribute to the fulfillment of the Nationally Determined Contributions that Peru submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that is, what the country pledged to do to mitigate and adapt to climate change.