6 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE July 2024 Close to ten years ago, every country in the world came together to develop a shared ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.’ The outcome was 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that would guide global efforts to build a society that can deliver continued progress for generations to come. Since then, the world has dramatically accelerated efforts to strengthen sustainability across industries. For the livestock sector, this offered an opportunity to showcase existing efforts and invest in new strategies for the future. Livestock health was always recognized by producers as an important sustainability pathway, improving efficiency and reducing productivity losses. For instance, the global beef sector has made it a pillar of their 2030 sustainability goals. However, animal health has been continually overlooked by policymakers when developing national strategies. The result is 20% of livestock production is still lost to disease each year, costing producers $300 billion and emitting higher emissions than needed. However, this is beginning to change. In 2022, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) urged nations to integrate animal health into their national climate commitments, calling it “vital for sustainable livestock production.” Last year, the UN further emphasized animal health when it released its global roadmap for ‘Achieving SDG 2 without breaching the 1.5 °C threshold.” The Roadmap recognized the importance of livestock to 1.7 billion farmers worldwide, and offered proven pathways for addressing its climate footprint including better genetics, feed, and animal health. In fact, an accompanying UN report calculated the effects of different steps to address livestock emission, finding that: - Productivity increases would reduce emissions 20% - Feed improvements by 12% - Better animal health by 10% - Improved genetics by 8% - Methane reducing feed additives by 5% This 50%+ combined reduction is in comparison to actions like diet changes in people, which the report found only reduced emissions by 4%. This growing recognition of the value of animal health and related technologies has the potential to dramatically improve livestock sustainability and decrease its carbon footprint. This will require increased use of veterinary vaccines, strong biosecurity protocols, improved feed and use of additives, better breeding practices and adoption of new digital technologies. Each area offers opportunities to cut emissions while also increasing productivity. VACCINES Disease prevention is the cornerstone of livestock health and sustainable production. When animals are healthy, they produce more with less feed, water and other resources, which means farmers can meet consumer needs with fewer animals at a lower climate footprint. Researchers have found that when disease strikes, it can increase emissions in beef cattle up to 113% and by 24% in dairy. Vaccination avoids this dramatic impact by stopping disease before it strikes. THE ROLE OF ANIMAL HEALTH IN SUPPORTING LIVESTOCK SUSTAINABILITY AND HELPING MEET CLIMATE GOALS Carel du Marchie Sarvaas Executive Director HealthforAnimals LEAD ARTICLE
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