In September 2007, the first ever Independent External Evaluation (IEE) of FAO concluded that ‘the FAO Livestock Division’s work on policies with respect to the poor and the environment has influenced global thinking in these areas’, and that with regard to the livestock sector, ‘a significant increase in resources is justified ... only if FAO’s work remains focused on; a) pro-poor sector policy and management; b) animal health, addressing implications for the poor [...]; c) livestock-environmental issues’. » Read more

Over the past four decades, BAIF Development Research Foundation, one of India’s largest NGOs, has been active in promoting better livelihoods options for the rural poor, and experimenting with innovative activities and products. In the State of Maharashtra, BAIF identified sericulture, i.e. the production of raw silk based on rearing silkworms fed on leaves from mulberry plants or Asna and Arjuna trees (Tasar) occurring in natural forests, as ‘An Alternative Source of Income to Enhance the Livelihoods of Small-scale Farmers and Tribal Communities’ (see PPLPI Research Report 09-03).
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‘Minding the Stock: Bringing Public Policy to Bear on Livestock Sector Development’ is the appealing title of World Bank’s Report No. 44010-GLB, which reviews current issues associated with livestock sector development and aims to ‘generate renewed interest in the livestock sector and serve to promote the increased investment that is urgently needed’. ‘Minding the Stock’ first reviews opportunities and challenges for livestock sector development to contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries (ch.1) and the rationale for public sector intervention in promoting a socially-desirable growth of the sector (ch.2). » Read more

Climate change is a global threat, with various negative impacts for human health in different parts of the world, both through direct and indirect pathways.  On 22-23 May, WHO - the technical agency concerned with human health within the United Nations system - organized a meeting to review, update and expand current assessments of climate change, and to plan an assessment of the ‘incremental’ global burden of disease attributable to climate change. » Read more