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Urban consumption of meat and milk and its green and blue water footprints—Patterns in the 1980s and 2000s for Nairobi, Kenya

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Title Urban consumption of meat and milk and its green and blue water footprints—Patterns in the 1980s and 2000s for Nairobi, Kenya
 
Creator Bosire, Caroline K.
 
Contributor Lannerstad, Mats
de Leeuw, Jan
Krol, Maarten S.
Ogutu, Joseph O.
Ochungo, Pamela A.
Hoekstra, Arjen Y.
 
Subject meat and milk
 
Description The problem: Various studies show that the developing world experiences and will continue to experience a rise
in consumption of animal proteins, particularly in cities, as a result of continued urbanization and income growth.
Given the relatively largewater footprint (WF) of animal products, this trend is likely to increase the pressure on
already scarce water resources.
Aim: We estimate, analyse and interpret the changes in consumption of meat and milk between the 1980s and
2000s for three income classes in Nairobi, the ratio of domestic production to imports, and the WF (the volume
of freshwater consumed) to produce these commodities in Kenya and abroad.
Results: Nairobi's middle-income class grew much faster than the overall population. In addition, milk consumption
per capita by the middle-income group grew faster than for the city's population as a whole. Contrary to expectation,
average meat consumption per capita across all income groups in Nairobi declined by 11%.
Nevertheless, total meat consumption increased by a factor 2.2 as a result of population growth, while total
milk consumption grew by a factor 5. As a result, the total WF of meat consumption increased by a factor 2.3 and the total WF of milk consumption by a factor 4.2. The increase in milk consumption was met by increased
domestic production,whereas the growth in meat consumptionwas partly met through imports and an enlargement
of the footprint in the countries neighbouring Kenya.
Discussion and conclusion: A likely future rise in the consumption of meat and milk in Nairobi will further enlarge
the city'sWF. Given Kenya's looming blue water scarcity, it is anticipated that this WFwill increasingly spill over
the borders of the country. Accordingly, policies aimed at meeting the rise in demand for meat and milk should
consider the associated environmental constraints and the economic implications both nationally and
internationally.
 
Date 2017-02-01
2016-11-15T10:05:32Z
2016-11-15T10:05:32Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/dspace/limited
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716324585
Caroline K. Bosire, Mats Lannerstad, Jan de Leeuw, Maarten S. Krol, Joseph O. Ogutu, Pamela A. Ochungo, Arjen Y. Hoekstra. (1/2/2017). Urban consumption of meat and milk and its green and blue water footprints—Patterns in the 1980s and 2000s for Nairobi, Kenya. Science of the Total Environment, 579, pp. 786-796.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/5006
Timeless limited access
 
Language en
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Source Science of the Total Environment;579,(2017) Pagination 786-796