{"id":22491,"date":"2023-11-07T17:12:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T15:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/?p=22491"},"modified":"2023-11-14T11:25:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T09:25:34","slug":"the-truth-about-the-dublin-declaration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/en\/the-truth-about-the-dublin-declaration\/","title":{"rendered":"The truth about the “Dublin Declaration”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 1200 scientists were attacked by Greenpeace, who mistakenly believed livestock industry lobbyists wrote this scientific manifesto.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a recent statement, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Greenpeace<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> Italia<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> attacked the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>‘<\/span><\/span><\/span>Dublin Declaration<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span>‘<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, the manifesto <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>signed by nearly 1,200 scientists<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> to gather <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>scientific evidence <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>on the environmental<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> sustainability of livestock <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>farming, its socio-cultural and economic values, the nutritional benefits of meat and animal products, to provide <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>a balanced and truthful vision of the future of livestock farming<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and to propose solutions to the many possible improvements.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace said the document was “<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>drafted by livestock industry lobbyists<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> to prevent a reduction in European meat consumption”. In addition, the declaration was “born as <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>a meat industry position<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, written by food industry consultants and used by PR agencies and lobbyists <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>to block European policies to protect health and the environment<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>“. “In Italy, in particular, the Dublin Declaration has been widely promoted by <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Carni Sostenibili<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>.”<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Carni Sostenibili (meaning Sustainable Meats) is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>a communication project<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> based on the rigorous dissemination of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>scientific evidence obtained on an empirical basis<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. To do this, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>it is necessary to explore the scientific world<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, to examine its results, published in international journals and subject to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>the judgement of the scientific communities<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and to evaluate its activities without interfering in any way or with the freedom of research, not being a funding body for scientific projects, nor on the content as ex-post from the literature. Furthermore, in carrying out this important task of dissemination, strongly advocated by the European Union in the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Charter of Researchers<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, Carni Sostenibili also welcomes the opinions expressed directly by <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>scientists<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and disseminates them in such a way as to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>guarantee their freedom of expression<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and independence<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> from any editorial direction. This is a correct and generally recognised “modus operandi”, also <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>practised by several NGOs<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> concerned with providing citizens with <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>transparent information<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>discrediting a large scientific community<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> made up of the world’s best academics, the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Greenpeace<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> press release uses data on the environmental impact of livestock farms in a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>partial, inaccurate and decontextualised manner<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0HOW THINGS ARE<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The data cited by Greenpeace and repeated as a mantra require some important clarifications:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2) “83% of the world’s land is used for meat production”: this anomaly does not correspond to reality. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Pastures and meadows<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> (which, among other things, protect the soil, preserve biodiversity and store organic carbon) occupy <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>no more than 26% of the land and 70% of agricultural land<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> (and only because these are areas where no other productive activity could be carried out without serious environmental damage).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3) “Meat accounts for 60% of agricultural emissions”: this statement ignores the fact that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>FAO data<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> show that the contribution of the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>agricultural sector<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> as a whole to GHG <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>emissions is no more than 18%<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and that animal production chains (all, meat, milk, eggs and livestock) <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>directly account for 6%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> or 1\/3 of total emissions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

4) “Meat production chains account for 80% of nitrogen emissions into the atmosphere”: again, it is not known that <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>synthetic fertilisers account for around 50% of nitrogen inputs into agro-ecosystems<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and that, without them, half the world’s population wouldn’t have enough to eat.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

5) The issue of “<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>deforestation<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>” attributed to meat production is not justified by evidence, without even a reference to the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>recent EU regulation to combat this phenomenon<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, which particularly affects the production of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>soya, exotic woods, palm oil and rubber<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Dublin Declaration<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> comes at a time when the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>global livestock sector<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> is facing an unprecedented double challenge. On the one hand, there is a call to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>increase the availability of animal-source foods<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> (meat, dairy products, eggs and fish) to meet the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>nutritional needs <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>of some three billion people at <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>risk of malnutrition<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>; on the other hand, animal production systems face various challenges related to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>biodiversity, climate change and nutrient flows<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, as well as <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>animal health and welfare<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. In short, the supply and sustainability challenges are growing exponentially, and the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>need to promote evidence-based solutions<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> in an open and non-ideological debate is becoming increasingly urgent.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 1200 scientists were attacked by Greenpeace, who mistakenly believed livestock industry lobbyists wrote this scientific manifesto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[958],"tags":[5618,4927,3842,4721,5621,5620,5619],"class_list":["post-22491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evolution-culture","tag-disinformation-greenpeace","tag-dublin-declaration","tag-fake-news-greenpeace-en","tag-greenpeace-en","tag-greenpeace-lobby","tag-greenpeace-v-breeding","tag-greenpeace-v-dublin-declaration"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t

1) “Products of animal origin account for 18% of the calories we consume”: a partial statement that ignores the total <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>contribution of meat and other animal-source foods to human nutrition<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. Animal proteins (including fish) alone <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>represent 39% of total intake<\/a>,<\/span><\/span><\/span> and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>55% of essential amino acids<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> come from consuming these products.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n