The Malaysian Vegetarian Society has declared that the carbon footprint impact on a vegan diet is less than a third of a meat eater’s diet, which incidentally, is more than 100g per day based on their findings and study.

According to the society, climate change and natural disasters are wreaking havoc on food security and the carbon and water footprints of animal based proteins are twice to 100 times higher than plant based proteins.

They cited the survey and studies conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization or FAO which discovered that for the same hectare of land, a vegan diet can feed 14 times more people, making efficient use of scarce resources.

Also animal agriculture is to be blamed for major pollution issues that are destroying habitats, especially marine ecosystems of rivers and bay areas of the oceans, and is a major contributor to dead zones.

About 30 percent to 50 percent of plastics and microplastics found in the ocean are from rubbish thrown away from the fishing industry and although governments have been trying hard, this activity is difficult to regulate.

The society encourages people to eat less meat as beef production, for example, is responsible for 41 percent of deforestation and global livestock production represents 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE