Comparing GHG emissions from pastoral livestock and wildlife in northern Tanzania

Grazing animals in savannas emit a significant share of global livestock-sourced greenhouse gases (GHGs). Policy guidelines often recommend the abandonment of livestock grazing in vast rangeland areas, which are to be “rewilded” to reduce the assumed potential for GHG emissions and to increase potential sequestration of carbon if grazing is drastically reduced. In the study “Comparable GHG emissions from animals in wildlife and livestock-dominated savannas” (npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2023) 6:27; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-023-00349-8), Pablo Manzano et al compared calculated GHG emissions per unit area in a savanna landscape dominated by wildlife (the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem) with emissions from adjacent land (Loliondo Game Controlled Area) with similar ecological characteristics but being used almost exclusively by Maasai pastoralists who graze their livestock there. If pastoralism would be banned from this area, it would be recolonised by wild herbivores, as pastoral livestock and wild herbivores occupy similar ecological niches. The results of the comparison showed similar estimates of GHGs in both study areas (grazed by wildlife and livestock, respectively). Thus, in the case of the Serengeti ecosystem, strategies to remove pastoral livestock would not lead to a significant reduction in the total amount of direct GHG emissions from animals in the savanna of northern Tanzania.

Posted on 18 December 2023 in Pastoral Research & Innovation, Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Natural Resources