The objective of this research is to discuss the relationship between the growth of livestock and the environmental impact it generates in Colombia. For this, data were extracted from the FAO STAT for the period of 1961 to 2017. The livestock inventory has had a significant growth during the last 50 years. This has generated environmental exposure and the release of carbon, sequestered by continuous deforestation performed in the practice of extensive livestock. Recurring to vector error correction models, we observed the existence of long-term relations between CO2 emissions from dairy cattle and emissions from slaughtered cattle, deforestation, pastures, and forest development. Changes in CO2 emissions from dairy cattle tend to be anticipated by changes in CO2 emissions from the other analyzed sources, which prove how the current investment in dairy cattle results from the accumulated debates in Colombia regarding the different sources of livestock emissions.
Keywords: CO2 emissions; Cattle; Deforestation; Land use.