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The conference on Climate Change and Energy on the Meat Industry was held at INAC, and other organizations were invited to discuss about this issue.
The Director of the Energetic Efficiency Project of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, Engineer Alfonso Blanco, and Engineer Mariana Kaspik from the Ministry of Housing, Land Use Planning and Environment, took part of the conference.
Engineer Luis García Filiberto was also invited, and his lecture was focused on "Energy Saving in Cooling Systems".
Engineer María del Carmen Vilanova from INAC stated that not only are there ethic aspects on this issue, but also of social responsibility, which the Institute is analyzing to take actions.
INAC's authorities and technical Directorates launched the "Initiative on Environment, Energy and Meat Sector".
The initial content of the same consists in Fostering the inclusion of the specific subject of climate change, energy efficiency, and meat sector in the international negotiation agenda of Uruguay.
It was also decided to commence a process to improve the qualifications of INAC's technicians, and of the different actors of sectors related to meat, to which purpose a program of courses and conferences will be launched in 2010.
Likewise, INAC will begin to analysis and prepare an action plan on this subject, covering the aspects concerning production, trading and promotion of Uruguayan meat, and will coordinate said activities with the public and private institutions related to the matter.
INAC's IV Analysis and Planning Working Day particularly addressed the issues of climate change and energy efficiency, which are currently the focus of global attention.
This is due to the fact that, amongst the various areas in which the same have relevance, there is the meat sector, fundamentally as regards the issues of greenhouse effect gas emissions and global warming.
The conclusion was reached that, as usual, the first step is to technically analyze the degree of importance allocated to the meat sector on that matter by some recent researches and declarations. The analysis referred to must address the global situation, but specially, the case of Uruguay.
The attention on the matter is and will more and more in the near future be leading to the generation of new national (domestic and foreign) and international regulations that will end with the establishment of new requirements for the meat sector, among other sectors.
About 75 % of Uruguay's meat production is intended for foreign markets which, due to their characteristics, will tend to implement the possible new requirements more quickly. A clear example of this is the European Union, to where exports accounting for approximately 40 % of Uruguay's income for the trading of national meat products abroad are meant.
This entails the need to deepen the knowledge of the subject from the particular view of the meat sector, and to look for possible response mechanisms to face the abovementioned effects. Among these mechanisms there could be: the fostering of national research, the creation of specific certifications, the analysis of the "carbon footprint" issue as regards labeling, the spreading of exact information about Uruguay's situation on this matter, etc.
