Livestock emissions face tough climate questions, but Nigeria laid out a 10-year growth plan at a COP31 official side event in Antalya, targeting an increase in sector value from roughly 32 billion dollars to 72 billion dollars, CGIAR System reported.
Default values built on high-income intensive systems often fail to capture reality. Netzence Sustainability Limited and the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development presented findings from Nigeria’s livestock methane baseline study at COP31, showing local systems can emit more methane than global defaults assume.
“Lower emissions per liter of milk are not the same as lower total emissions, and the sector must be ready to show both,” said Jennifer Chow, Senior Director, Agriculture, Water, Food at the Environmental Defense Fund, told CGIAR System.
Farmers need clear financial benefits to change practices. Better feed, health, and genetics cut emissions intensity by up to 30 percent while raising output. ILRI and partners turned polluting cassava peels into a high-quality feed ingredient within hours.
“Participation is often used to mean inviting people to comment on a finished plan,” Maureen Kabasa of the African Centre for Technology Studies told CGIAR System.
Nigeria’s dedicated ministry and its place in its nationally determined contribution give investors a recognizable national structure. The World Bank estimates livestock receives just 0.1 percent of climate development finance, which requires mixed instruments like grants, concessional loans, and results-based payments.
“Livestock receives just a fraction of climate development finance,” World Bank estimates put that figure at 0.1 percent.
