ith breakthrough progress and commitments at both the COP26 climate talks and the UN Food Systems Summit, the international community signaled its intention to make strides in 2022 towards more sustainable food systems, including livestock production.
From the Global Methane Pledge to the Global Sustainable Livestock Coalition, food and agribusiness is increasingly seen as the gateway to addressing the linked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, hunger, and poverty.
Yet as the pandemic recovery progresses unevenly around the world, it is clear that sustainability will be a destination with different routes. To make meaningful progress in transforming food systems and sustainably meeting demand for safe, healthy, and affordable food, the world must accept there is no single “winning” model and instead leverage sectors like animal health that offer gains regardless of the context or the challenges.
With an estimated one in five food-producing animals falling victim to disease, improvements in animal health offer enormous potential to minimize losses as well as foodborne illnesses and the unnecessary emissions associated with disease. With its direct links to human and planetary health, animal health plays an instrumental role in the sustainability of food systems—from optimizing the productivity of livestock and minimizing the need for land and water to ensuring the safety of the food supply chain.
With vastly different disease challenges, resource levels, and infrastructure, each country will require their own unique mix of animal health tools that reflects “national realities” in the quest to meet shared global goals by 2030. Increasing access to every tool in the toolbox and rejecting policies that require exporters to match the production practices of other markets is essential.
For instance, animal medicines and vaccines are the first line of defense in responding to novel and emerging health threats and disease outbreaks, which are often highly localized. Existing products must be quickly adapted according to specific strain or conditions—and subsequently reassessed and relicensed.
In sub-Saharan Africa for example, critical animal vaccines against rabies and other deadly diseases are most effective when they are heat stable, so they can be delivered without the need for an extensive cold chain. Similarly, some markets face the threat of bacterial infection that requires antibiotics not used in other countries. Ensuring veterinarians are able to prescribe the medicines needed to prevent or treat illness is vital for the sustainability of the global food trade.
Breakthroughs in livestock genetics and breeding can also produce animals that cope better with new weather extremes, which in turn reduces the need for more land and resources. Heat stress from temperatures above 25C (77F) can cause cows to eat less and therefore produce and reproduce less, leading to farmers keeping larger herds that maximize their chances of producing sufficient meat and milk.
However, a natural gene mutation found in European cattle can be replicated and introduced into herds across Africa, which is disproportionately affected by rising temperatures. More innovative public investment would support the infrastructure and regulatory protocols needed to scale up these kinds of improved breeding programs in countries worst-hit by climate change.
Finally, advances in digital monitoring and early diagnosis can be the difference between successfully treating a single animal and losing an entire herd—along with the food supplies and income that come with it.
These tools are more widely available in some countries than others due to limitations on connectivity and digital literacy holding back markets in low-income countries. Yet, new technologies like smart ear tags and sensors offer a rapid return on investment and sustainability gains by allowing farmers and veterinarians to act with greater precision before the toll of disease adds up – for people and planet.
High standards of animal health and welfare are synonymous with sustainable livestock production and yet, the practices, policies, and technologies that achieve them may vary around the world according to disease threats and resources. The global arena must make space for all possible tools in order to give every country a fair chance of developing a sustainable food system.
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Solving Poverty and Climate Change through Animal Health
Photo by Joe Green via Unsplash.
January 20, 2022
Doing better with food and agribusiness is essential to the world effectively meeting the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, hunger, and poverty. Improving the health of food-producing animals is key to doing better, writes HealthforAnimals Executive Director Carel du Marchie Sarvaas.
W
ith breakthrough progress and commitments at both the COP26 climate talks and the UN Food Systems Summit, the international community signaled its intention to make strides in 2022 towards more sustainable food systems, including livestock production.
From the Global Methane Pledge to the Global Sustainable Livestock Coalition, food and agribusiness is increasingly seen as the gateway to addressing the linked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, hunger, and poverty.
Yet as the pandemic recovery progresses unevenly around the world, it is clear that sustainability will be a destination with different routes. To make meaningful progress in transforming food systems and sustainably meeting demand for safe, healthy, and affordable food, the world must accept there is no single “winning” model and instead leverage sectors like animal health that offer gains regardless of the context or the challenges.
With an estimated one in five food-producing animals falling victim to disease, improvements in animal health offer enormous potential to minimize losses as well as foodborne illnesses and the unnecessary emissions associated with disease. With its direct links to human and planetary health, animal health plays an instrumental role in the sustainability of food systems—from optimizing the productivity of livestock and minimizing the need for land and water to ensuring the safety of the food supply chain.
With vastly different disease challenges, resource levels, and infrastructure, each country will require their own unique mix of animal health tools that reflects “national realities” in the quest to meet shared global goals by 2030. Increasing access to every tool in the toolbox and rejecting policies that require exporters to match the production practices of other markets is essential.
For instance, animal medicines and vaccines are the first line of defense in responding to novel and emerging health threats and disease outbreaks, which are often highly localized. Existing products must be quickly adapted according to specific strain or conditions—and subsequently reassessed and relicensed.
In sub-Saharan Africa for example, critical animal vaccines against rabies and other deadly diseases are most effective when they are heat stable, so they can be delivered without the need for an extensive cold chain. Similarly, some markets face the threat of bacterial infection that requires antibiotics not used in other countries. Ensuring veterinarians are able to prescribe the medicines needed to prevent or treat illness is vital for the sustainability of the global food trade.
Breakthroughs in livestock genetics and breeding can also produce animals that cope better with new weather extremes, which in turn reduces the need for more land and resources. Heat stress from temperatures above 25C (77F) can cause cows to eat less and therefore produce and reproduce less, leading to farmers keeping larger herds that maximize their chances of producing sufficient meat and milk.
However, a natural gene mutation found in European cattle can be replicated and introduced into herds across Africa, which is disproportionately affected by rising temperatures. More innovative public investment would support the infrastructure and regulatory protocols needed to scale up these kinds of improved breeding programs in countries worst-hit by climate change.
Finally, advances in digital monitoring and early diagnosis can be the difference between successfully treating a single animal and losing an entire herd—along with the food supplies and income that come with it.
These tools are more widely available in some countries than others due to limitations on connectivity and digital literacy holding back markets in low-income countries. Yet, new technologies like smart ear tags and sensors offer a rapid return on investment and sustainability gains by allowing farmers and veterinarians to act with greater precision before the toll of disease adds up – for people and planet.
High standards of animal health and welfare are synonymous with sustainable livestock production and yet, the practices, policies, and technologies that achieve them may vary around the world according to disease threats and resources. The global arena must make space for all possible tools in order to give every country a fair chance of developing a sustainable food system.
