Ecological footprint of beef consumption in the state of Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Received: December 18th, 2020 ; Accepted: April 2nd, 2021 ; Published: April 12th, 2021 ; Correspondence: [email protected] beef production chain can cause considerable impacts on the environment depending on how it is carried out. The need to discuss the impact of the consumption of this food in a country whose production base is mainly agricultural and livestock is relevant in view of the environmental degradation and scarcity of resources. In this work, the ecological footprint of beef consumption was evaluated using the state of Rio de Janeiro as a case study. Data were collected such as population, productive capacity, annual consumption, cattle weight, grazing equivalence factor. Calculations of livestock density, consumption per capita, productivity, number of oxen, area per capita, and total area required were also carried out. The value found for Total Ecological Footprint was 1,117,995.22 gha and for Ecological Footprint per capita was 0.065 gha. It was found that the ecological footprint per capita is higher than the area destined for each inhabitant of the State which is 0.019 ha. It can be inferred that the consumption of beef as it is currently carried out harms the ecosystem in which production is inserted