New data measures animal health’s contribution to sustainability
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The burden of animal disease is one of the most significant barriers to overcome in achieving more sustainable livestock production worldwide, impacting productivity, emissions, and land use.
Released to coincide with World Animal Vaccination Day, a new report carried out by independent international risk consultancy Oxford Analytica, and commissioned by HealthforAnimals, strengthens our understanding of the relationship between animal health and the economy, environment, and society, for more sustainable livestock systems.
The report, titled Animal health and Sustainability: A Global Data Analysis, shows how better animal health can mean higher productivity, lower emissions and fewer people going hungry.
Drawing on a range of data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), and more, the report models the effects of livestock health on sustainability, showing how:
- Economic: Livestock disease losses cause US$358.4 billion in lost production per year.
- Environment: A fall in livestock disease of 10 percentage points is associated with an 800 million tonne decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – equivalent to the average annual emissions of 117 million Europeans.
- Social: Globally, on average, every two cattle vaccinated correlates with one person avoiding hunger.
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How reducing livestock diseases contributes to greater sustainability
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From increasing farmers’ incomes to reducing the amount of land needing to be converted for grazing, tackling livestock diseases is one of the central pathways for achieving more productive, sustainable, and resilient livestock systems.
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1) Reducing the prevalence of animal disease can increase global livestock productivity, boosting farmers’ incomes.
In Brazil, for instance, one of the world’s largest beef producers, vaccinating 1% of beef cattle correlates with a 0.7% increase in production.
Globally, reducing dairy cattle disease rates by one percentage point would increase producer revenues by up to US$3.8 billion.
2) A 40% global vaccination rate for cattle in a given year is associated with a 5.2% reduction in land required for livestock production, reducing the environmental footprint of livestock systems.
The adoption of existing tools in animal health and husbandry could also enable livestock to serve a population of 9 billion in 2050 without increasing emissions.
3) Higher vaccination rates among livestock are associated with lower levels of undernourishment and food insecurity.
For instance, in Nigeria, vaccinating 40% of cattle in a given year would reduce severe food insecurity by up to 8.1% - equivalent to lifting 2.4 million people out of severe food insecurity.
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As shown in the new report, reducing livestock diseases contributes to greater economic, environmental and social sustainability.
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"Wider adoption of existing best practices and technologies in feeding, health and husbandry, and manure management - as well as greater use of improved technologies - could help the global livestock sector cut its GHG emissions by as much as 30 percent."
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United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
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Poultry diseases were associated with a 5% increase in global hunger in 2019 – equivalent to an additional 34 million people going hungry that year alone.
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How fighting animal diseases contributes to economic sustainability
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