Abstract:
This study examines the impact of climate change indicators on livestock production in ten West African countries. Climate change is a contemporary challenging issue threatening the very existence of the earth and Less developed parts of the world suffer its impact most. Climate characteristics affect the environment, agricultural production, and health. Climate affects every nation and every economy. A combination of descriptive statistics and econometrics methodology were used in the analysis of data. The study used two objectives; to ascertain the level of climate change indicators in the countries under study and to determine whether climate change indicators are major determinants of livestock production in those countries. The indicators include carbon dioxide emission (Co2E), Renewable Internal Fresh Water Resources in addition to other macroeconomic indicators like population and GDP growth rate.
The study used the production function approach to model the effects of climate change on livestock production. The result suggests that a positive relationship exists between carbon dioxide emissions and livestock production up to a threshold of 350ppm. Beyond the threshold, CO2 emissions affect livestock production negatively. This implies that an increase in CO2 emissions will increase livestock production in the countries studied but beyond the tipping point (threshold) an increase in CO2 emissions will decrease livestock production. The study also suggests that the other climate change indicator which is renewable internal fresh water resources (RIFR) also has a positive relationship with livestock production. This implies that an increase in RIFR increases livestock production.
