Global leaders gather to take action on sustainable livestock production

By Lilian Schaer for Livestock Research Innovation Corporation

Livestock are seen as both a source of greenhouse gas emissions and a solution to climate change. To help bring balance, dialogue and understanding to an often-contentious issue, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations last fall hosted the first-ever Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation. 

The event brought together hundreds of participants from around the world, representing FAO members, producer organizations, academic institutions, development agencies, civil society and private sector bodies and all keenly interested in ways to continue producing animal-based foods with a reduced environmental footprint. Approximately 50 to 75 global youth representatives were also there.

Balancing the narrative

The event was a long overdue, important opportunity for the livestock sector to evaluate what the real role of livestock is in issues like climate, biodiversity and more, says livestock economist Ernesto Reyes, who attended the event. 

Reyes is a member of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock, an FAO initiative, and the Dairy Development Lead with the Global Dairy Platform. 

“It is important for the livestock sector to begin setting up a common global vision and narrative on the issue of sustainable livestock,” Reyes explains. “Most comments that are brought forward are based on elements that get attention in the media, so the narrative has been unbalanced. We have given our voice to specific groups that are championing the topics of consumers, and we need to take action to be part of the solution.” 

Transition of an industry

According to Reyes, conference discussions focused on defining how the world can make transitions to sustainable livestock production systems in different regions of the globe, what is needed to do so and what can be learned from successful examples already in place. Also important is how the industry can promote access to resources for smaller scale producers and increase market access and opportunities.

“We need to agree on how we can make these transitions,” he says, adding changes are also needed to globally minimize antimicrobial resistance. “The relationship between animal and human health is really important.” 

Supporting sustainable land use and preserving the biodiversity of livestock genetics is also a focus. This could include restoring some land currently used for livestock production in some parts of the world into its more natural state terms. Again, he emphasizes, regional approaches to global issues will be needed for success, particularly to address the need for better production efficiency and responsible resource use for future resilience. 

“Globally, we need to improve efficiency of production. There is a huge gap between natural resource use and natural resource efficiency and best management practices need to be applied in many regions,” he notes. “There are strategies to improve animal production that will help the global livestock industry overall make that transition to sustainable production.” 

Reyes himself, having spent decades working in the global livestock sector, believes sustainable production priorities should focus in particular on the regions where most of the production and demand will take place in the coming decades. Approximately three quarters of that growth will be in Asia and Africa, for example. 

How can innovation help?

So how can the livestock sector innovate to meet these challenges and opportunities in a global context? A monitoring system is needed to establish benchmarks and measure progress against them, along with goals of where the industry wants to end up. 

“Sustainability is a journey and not an end, so it’s most important to implement monitoring systems,” Reyes says. “That’s where the work of the Global Dairy Platform and other sustainability frameworks is very important. The question will be how to implement monitoring at the farm level and who will pay for it.”  

“We need to be responsible and demonstrate that we are making real change, and if we can’t demonstrate that, we will lose our social license to produce. We are seeing this already in the mining sector, for example,” he adds. 

Next steps

As a result of the conference, the FAO has created four “betters” – better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life – and identified specific actions under each category. As all elements are different in different countries and regions, the FAO has also created regional chapters that will each explore, analyze and discuss the issues in-depth through regional dialogue. 

“We need to discover the science-based evidence and recognize that we can make things better than before,” Reyes says. 

Reyes’s colleague at Global Dairy Platform, Brian Lindsay, is a member of LRIC’s International Advisory Committee to help bring global perspectives to Ontario’s livestock industry. 

LRIC has also been promoting the concept of a balanced score card to evaluate the role of livestock not just in terms of its environmental footprint but also in global food protein security, regenerative agriculture, and carbon sequestration. 

LRIC is funded in part by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative. This article is provided by LRIC as part of its ongoing efforts to report on research, innovation, and issues affecting the Canadian livestock industry.

This article was first published in the April 2024 edition of Milk Producer.