In response to this decision, FAO developed a draft proposal that was further elaborated by three stakeholder groups (governments, private sector and civil society) during a consultation in March 2011. These initial consultations focused on clarifying the visions, objectives and obtaining consensus and commitment on working together to improve livestock food chains.
The current Partnership grew out of these efforts. Based on a continuous dialogue between interested parties, the Partnership was formally launch in July 2012.
The main focus of the Partnership is on the development of broadly recognized sector specific guidelines (metrics and methods) for monitoring environmental impact of the livestock sector that will result in a better understanding and management of the key factors influencing the sector’s performance.
The overarching goal of this initiative is to contribute to improved environmental performance of the livestock sector while considering social and economic viability. The Partnership will contribute towards the achievement of this goal through support to decision-making by providing guidance on environmental assessments and their subsequent application.The Partnership promotes an exchange of data and information, technical expertise and research geared towards improving and harmonizing the way in which livestock food chains are assessed and monitored.Participation is on a voluntary basis and not restricted to the current participants. Membership is conferred by endorsement of the Partnership Agreement. To become a participant, interested entities should submit a signed copy of the Partnership Agreement to the Partnership Secretariat endorsing their support for the Partnership on the environmental benchmarking of livestock supply chains and their commitment to the goals and objectives of the project as well as specifying the nature of their contribution. The signed agreement should be sent to: Livestock-Partnership@fao.org
