Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock?

Published on July 2016, this report from the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) focuses on the livestock sector because it is considered “as a powerful engine for the development of the agriculture and food sector, a driver of major economic, social and environmental changes in food systems worldwide, and a uniquely powerful entry point for understanding the issues around sustainable agricultural development as a whole.”

Livestock is strongly linked to the feed crop sector and it generates diverse important co-products including manure and draught power. In many countries livestock also acts as a store of wealth and a safety net and it is integral to the traditional practices, values and landscapes of many communities across the world. On the other side, there is increasing evidence that some of the major challenges to which agriculture is confronted depend upon the evolution of the livestock sector. This is the case for human health through both the burdens of under- and overnutrition. This is also the case for the environment. The pressure on the agriculture sector, and the consequences for changes in land-use patterns, will strongly depend on the evolution of animal-sourced food (ASF) demand. Defining pathways for minimizing the harmful and enhancing beneficial environmental, economic and social impacts of livestock is therefore essential.

The report analyses the positive and negative linkages between agriculture and the subsector of livestock and offers to policy-makers and other stakeholders a framework of recommendations on how to strengthen the contributions of the livestock sector to sustainable agricultural development (SAD) for food security and nutrition (FSN). These recommendations are directed at different categories of stakeholders as appropriate: states, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), the private sector and civil society organizations, and/or other stakeholders.

Translations of the 10th HLPE report Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutritiion: what roles for livestock? are now available in all UN official languages.