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What are the limits across major animal production systems for tolerable animal welfare, disease, climate and environmental vulnerabilities and how do we measure them?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2022

Robyn Alders Open the ORCID record for Robyn Alders [Opens in a new window]  and
Jonathan Rushton
Robyn Alders*
Affiliation:
Development Policy Centre and Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Global Health Programme, Chatham House, UK Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK
Jonathan Rushton
Affiliation:
Global Burden of Animal Diseases Programme https://animalhealthmetrics.org; Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases, Texas A&M University, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Robyn Alders, E-mail: robyn.alders@anu.edu.au
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Extract

Animal agriculture is in the spotlight as commentators and researchers assess its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, emerging infectious disease, environmental degradation, non-communicable food-related diseases and inadequate animal welfare. To date, however, research has largely failed to explore the significant differences between livestock species and the range of production systems under which they are raised. There is an absence of validated classification systems that are based on ontological processes. In many areas of the world, traditional livestock raising practices have survived for thousands of years and continue to date, yet they are under pressure with human population pressure, land and water use. In the 20th century, intensive livestock production systems were hailed as economic successes with environmental externalities largely ignored. Moving forward what constitutes ‘tolerable’ animal agriculture in a changing world facing multiple existential threats? Do the limits vary across geographies, production systems and cultures? If they do, how can these differences be measured? How might these limits contribute to defining associated sustainable and circular bioeconomies?

Type
Question
Information
Research Directions: One Health , Volume 1 , 2023 , e1
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Context

Animal agriculture is in the spotlight as commentators and researchers assess its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, emerging infectious disease, environmental degradation, non-communicable food-related diseases and inadequate animal welfare. To date, however, research has largely failed to explore the significant differences between livestock species and the range of production systems under which they are raised. There is an absence of validated classification systems that are based on ontological processes. In many areas of the world, traditional livestock raising practices have survived for thousands of years and continue to date, yet they are under pressure with human population pressure, land and water use. In the 20th century, intensive livestock production systems were hailed as economic successes with environmental externalities largely ignored. Moving forward what constitutes ‘tolerable’ animal agriculture in a changing world facing multiple existential threats? Do the limits vary across geographies, production systems and cultures? If they do, how can these differences be measured? How might these limits contribute to defining associated sustainable and circular bioeconomies?

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Competing interests

The authors declare none.