The initiative is spearheaded by the International Livestock Research Institute to help meet rising demand for meat, milk and eggs while keeping emissions in check.
A new hub launched at the COP29 climate talks will provide a one-stop-shop for solutions to help the livestock sector in developing countries meet rising demand for animal-source foods while keeping emissions to a minimum.
The Livestock and Climate Solutions Hub will bring together new and existing approaches to support the transition to climate-smart, sustainable livestock production in low- and middle-income countries. The solutions may be technical, such as advances in animal health, genetics and nutrition, or practical, such as improved management of livestock systems based on circular economy principles.
Livestock-keeping is already a vital source of income and food security for many countries in the Global South, with need and demand for meat, milk and eggs rising as the population continues to grow. The sector is also facing growing pressure to adapt to the impact of climate change.
By 2050, an estimated quarter of the global population will live in Africa, driving a three-fold increase in demand for animal-source food. Studies indicate that, without productivity improvements, two-thirds of livestock-related emissions will come from developing countries by mid-century.
The new hub, housed at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is designed to help countries meet this increase in demand while also adapting to climate shocks and minimising emissions. ILRI is part of CGIAR, the world’s largely publicly-funded agricultural research organisation.
“There is an urgent need for cohesive, coordinated and integrated approaches to address the challenges of livestock emissions, while also meeting the increasing need and demand for animal-source food in low- and middle-income countries,” said Prof. Appolinaire Djikeng, director general of ILRI.
“There is currently no entity focused on adapting or developing emerging solutions to fit the diverse range of small-scale livestock systems that are common to the Global South. The hub presents an opportunity to fill this gap and scale up sustainable solutions that simultaneously manage emissions and strengthen the resilience and sustainability of animal agriculture.”
The hub will feature solutions such as leveraging genetics and genomics tools to support breeding for more productive, resilient and sustainable livestock, as well as supporting farmers and governments to design, create and monitor policies to reduce emissions.
A number of ILRI-led initiatives are contributing to these solutions, such as the Enviro-Cow project, which gathers farm-level data to identify high-performing and low-emitting dairy cows for breeding.
Researchers are also working to identify and develop forages that reduce the methane emitted by cattle, and using digitally gathered data to create herd recording systems for improved breeding.
“Lowering emissions from our food systems and ensuring resilience to climate change are at the heart of the 2030 CGIAR strategy that is centered on the transformation of food, water, and land systems in the current climate crisis,” said Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR.
“The Livestock and Climate Solutions Hub launched by ILRI will further increase the opportunities for many CGIAR centers and global partners to work together with a sharp focus on creating solutions to transition to climate smart livestock systems in LMICs.”
As well as developing and deploying practical solutions, the hub will also foster new public and private sector partnerships and support countries to align their livestock strategies with national climate, biodiversity and environment commitments to promote sustainable practices.
“A host of existing and emerging solutions exist to help livestock keepers and governments in developing countries advance their livestock sectors sustainably but until now, these have largely been fragmented and piecemeal,” said Prof. Anthony Whitbread, Livestock, Climate and Environment program lead at ILRI.
“We’re excited about the potential to develop integrated solutions through the hub that brings a wide range of partners together to develop interventions that achieve the triple win: productivity, climate adaptation and climate mitigation.”
