South Korea-Global warming and the cattle industry.

SOUTH-KOREA-The Korean government said yesterday it is joining a worldwide effort to tackle global warming by stopping emissions - from cows. About 0.5 percent of Korea’s contribution to global climate change comes from cows, the Agriculture Ministry said, adding that ruminating animals like cows emit methane, which has a warming effect 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The Rural Development Administration,

under the ministry, said it has started research on how to reduce the amount of methane cows let out through belches or flatulence. Bacteria in a cow’s intestines help decompose food, which ferments during digestion, generating methane. About 3 million cows live on Korean farms. A cow emits 47 kilograms (104 pounds) of methane a year, which has the same effect on the environment as about 1 ton of CO2. Korea emitted greenhouse gases equivalent to 590 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2005. About 2.5 percent of that, or 14.7 million equivalent tons, came from the agriculture sector, including the equivalent of around 3 million tons of CO2 from cow emissions. Those emissions are rising by 2.8 to 5.2 percent annually, the agency said. The agency said its research is already

paying off, and it has nearly figured out a way to reduce bovine emissions by 10 percent. "As global warming emerges as a priority issue for the world to tackle, Korea is seriously looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gases," said La Seung-yong in a statement issued by the Rural Development Administration. La is director general of the National Institute of Animal Science, an affiliate of the administration. "Along with research on how to reduce methane gas emissions from ruminating animals, we will carry on with research on how to curb global warming caused by animal excretions." joongangdaily.joins.com