Ph.D. student paper in Nature Climate Change

School of Mathematics PhD student authors a paper in Nature Climate Change

Rafael Silva is the lead author on an article published on 18 January in Nature Climate Change. The results of Rafael's model suggest that increasing beef production could lower greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil.

Rafael explains: "Much of Brazil's grassland is in poor condition, leading to low beef productivity and high greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. However, increasing demand for meat provides an incentive for farmers to recover degraded pastures. This would boost the amount of carbon stored in the soil and increase cattle productivity. It would require less land for grazing and reduce deforestation, potentially lowering emissions."

This is joint research by the University of Edinburgh, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)