ABSTRACT
This chapter sheds some light on the controversial issue of grazing livestock and the environment, and identifies sustainable pathways of development that help to reconcile animal production, environmental preservation, and socio-cultural values that are important for society. Today, livestock farming systems differ widely in the use of natural resources and inputs and outcomes obtained. In addition, they are located in very diverse agroecological, socio-economic and market contexts all around the world. Interactions between the animal farming intensity and the environment are complex, often not unidirectional, and can originate multiple conflicts between different outcomes and across spatial and temporal scales. The concept of multifunctionality generically refers to the interconnectedness of agriculture's different roles and functions. Animal agriculture is responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Efficiency is expressed most simply as the ratio of output to input, at a certain time and place.
