Livestock and the Environment

Livestock and the Environment
International Conference

International Agricultural Centre
P.O. Box 88,
6700 AB Wageningen,
The Netherlands
Telephone: +31-317-490111
Fax: +31-317-418552
E-mail: [email protected]


Coverphoto's:	Grazing livestock - FAO photo
	Intensive poultry production - FAO photo
	Land cultivation with draught animals - FAO photo

ISBN: 90-70785-14-5

Keywords: Livestock production, Environment.

Published with the financial assistance of:

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands,
DANIDA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark,
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Livestock and the Environment
International Conference

Proceedings of the International Conference on
Livestock and the Environment
held in Ede/Wageningen, the Netherlands
16 – 20 June 1997, organized by
World Bank
Food and Agriculture Organization
International Agricultural Centre

Edited by: Arend J. Nell


Published by:	International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, the Netherlands.

February 1998

Committees

The Steering Committee for the Livestock - Environment Initiative


	D. Peden (IDRC - Canada) F. Winther Olsen (DANIDA - Denmark) M. Dale (EU) H. Steinfeld (FAO - coordination) J.L. Francois (Ministère de la Coopération - France) A. von Lossau (GTZ - Germany) A. Sidahmed (IFAD) H. Jorritsma (Ministry of Foreign Affairs - the Netherlands) G Freeland (DFID - UK) J. Turk (USAID - USA) C. de Haan (World Bank - chair)

Organizing committee for the conference:


Co - Chairs:	C. de Haan	World Bank,
	H Steinfeld	Food and Agriculture Organization
Secretary/treasurer	A.J.Nell	International Agriculture Centre
Conference organization	J. Kentie	International Agriculture Centre
	A.A. Greeven	International Agriculture Centre

Preface

One of the greatest challenges faced by mankind is to satisfy the needs of the fast growing global population and at the same time preserve land, water, air and biodiversity resources. Livestock are a crucial element in this balancing process. Demand for livestock products is growing fast, especially in the developing world. Livestock, through their multiple functions, are a cornerstone of the livelihood of most of the rural population in the developing world. On the other hand, livestock use around 60 percent of the world's land area, including one fifth of the world's crop lands, and therefore interact directly and indirectly with a large part of the world's natural resources. Positioning livestock in such a way that it can satisfy future demands, while preserving the natural resource base, is therefore a critical element of sustainable agricultural development.

With this challenge in mind, a group of bilateral and multilateral development agencies requested FAO, the World Bank and USAID to lead the preparation of a major study on livestock - environment interactions. With the help of the international scientific community a state - of - the - art review on livestock - environment interactions has been prepared. The International Conference on Livestock and the Environment was held to share this information with a much broader audience and to translate the information into concrete guidelines for regional and national policies. The International Conference further aimed at formulating follow - up actions and identifying pilot activities to test innovative approaches.

The proceedings of this conference contain the papers presented, and the conclusions and recommendations of the conference workshops. The recommendations will serve as a guideline for the Steering Committee of the Livestock - Environment Initiative to initiate follow - up action. A translation of the recommendations into Spanish and French is included in the proceedings.

The conference organizers wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the organization of the conference. We also wish to thank CIPAV in Colombia for the translation into Spanish of the recommendations of the workshops. We furthermore wish to thank the many donor agencies who provided financial support for the participants of the conference. The assistance of Ms Rianne Hermus for the English corrections of the papers and of Ms Irmgard Liem - de Neef for the preparation of the typescript has been highly appreciated.

The conference organizers express their gratitude to the participants and thank all the authors of the papers for their contribution.

Arend J. Nell
Editor
February 1998

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Preface

Contents

Welcome and keynote addresses

Welcome and conference objectives.
Arend Jan Nell

A food security perspective to livestock and the environment
Louise O. Fresco, Henning Steinfeld

An international trade perspective on livestock and the environment
Alexander McCalla, Cees de Haan

Netherlands agricultural environmental policy; lessons to be learned
Johan de Leeuw

Introduction to the study livestock - environment interactions

Livestock and global change
Henning Steinfeld

Balancing livestock and environment; the study framework
Cees de Haan

Global consultation on balancing livestock, environment and human needs
Hugo Li Pun, E.J. Mwendera, V. Mares, B. Hart, H. Steinfeld, D. Peden, C. Sere, C. de Haan

Livestock grazing systems and the environment