GASL Webinar highlights - Sustainable livestock transformation: animal welfare solutions for resilient agrifood systems

The webinar, held on 26 February 2026 under the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL), brought together policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to explore the role of animal welfare in sustainable livestock transformation and resilient agrifood systems.

Program details, speaker list here.

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Headline summary

Animal welfare is both a goal and a mechanism for sustainable livestock systems. There is collective agreement that good welfare improves animal health, productivity and livelihoods, and it is at the core of resilient food systems. Improved animal welfare is aligned with the One Health approach within agrifood systems, and integrating welfare into global and national strategies accelerates sustainable transformation.

Through global collaboration, policies, and policy initiatives like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Global Plan of Action for Sustainable Livestock Transformation, countries can support farmers, improve animal care, and strengthen livelihoods for the nearly one billion people who depend on livestock.

Overall, discussions highlighted animal welfare as a practical entry point for advancing sustainability, resilience, and health outcomes across livestock systems worldwide.

Additional key outcomes

Global standards and collaboration drive meaningful improvements

Countries benefit from harmonized approaches and shared practices and international cooperation ensures policies work across all production systems. The World organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)’s global strategy and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards help strengthen implementation and capacity building, monitoring, and training and awareness raising can improve compliance.

Reward systems and certification labels support producers’ efforts and help create stronger strategies developed along the whole value chains.

Animal welfare must be embedded across One Health frameworks (global and national) climate and food security and agendas

Improved welfare reduces stress and lowers the need for antibiotics, supporting global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) targets while safeguarding livelihoods. Welfare also strengthens climate adaptation and resilience in livestock systems and simple welfare improvements help smallholders and pastoralists significantly through improved animal health, productivity, and reduced losses.

Participants emphasized that integrating animal welfare within broader environment, health, and food security policies can deliver co-benefits across multiple development objectives.

Therefore implementing good animal welfare standards should be part of wider strategies around environment, health and food security.

Continuing to embed animal welfare in policies and actions at global and national level is a universal need

Producing knowledge on the externalities of animal welfare, fostering continued multistakeholder discussions, and appropriate international funding, particularly in the Lower-Middle Income Countries, will be pivotal for embedding welfare in food systems policies, with  benefits for animals, farmers, and consumers. This was a recognized need of both speakers and the audience.

Registrant details

500 people registered for the event, which was the capacity of the Zoom meeting. Participants represented governments, international organizations, academia, civil society organizations, and private-sector stakeholders from multiple global regions, demonstrating strong cross-sector interest in animal welfare within sustainable livestock transformation.

Through a registration poll, we asked registrants about what opportunities they associate with improving animal welfare, and what the barriers were to delivering this and received a 93% response rate. Of the 10 opportunities proposed, the majority of all registrants agreed that improving animal welfare would support these opportunities (all with more than 50% respondents agreeing). There was near universal agreement to welfare being associated with healthier and more productive animals (84% and 81% agreeing respectively). The weakest association was consumer satisfaction/willingness to pay, with 55% of respondents agreeing that improved animal welfare improved this.

The top three most significant challenges to implementing improved animal welfare were:

(1) Gaps in legislation/enforcement (52%),

(2) Limited technical capacity, training and resourcing (including veterinary/animal health services; 49%), and

(3) Lack of resourcing (funding/finance to implement known needs; 43%). 

These results closely reflected themes raised throughout the speaker discussions, particularly the need for stronger policy frameworks, technical support, and investment.

Speaker summaries

An enabling policy environment supports the progress of countries and supports the good work currently underway in animal welfare. At this level, the connections being drawn are applicable across species, including working animals, and across contexts and systems.

• Dr Rebecca Doyle, University of Edinburgh/International Livestock Research Institute, Chair of the GASL Animal Welfare Action Network
  

A future for livestock farming is unthinkable without more attention to animal welfare. Farmers should receive a fair remuneration for their efforts to improve animal welfare on their farms.

• Eric van der Sommen, Coordinator European Animal  Affairs, Directie Animal Agrochain and Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food security and Nature, Netherlands
  

Welfare contributes to climate resilience, food security, and sustainable farming systems. Framing welfare as an opportunity rather than a constraint helps bring more stakeholders into the conversation and encourages real progress.

• Linda Keeling, Professor in Animal Welfare at the  Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, GASL Animal Welfare Action Network
  

Because livestock systems differ so much across the world, regional animal welfare strategies are extremely valuable. They allow countries to adapt global guidance to their own contexts and production systems. By working regionally while staying connected to international standards, members are more likely to adopt and implement welfare recommendations effectively.

• Leopoldo Stuardo, Scientific Coordinator - Animal Welfare, Standards Department, WOAH
  

Implemented standards lead to lower mortality; reduced production losses; safer trade; more resilient livestock systems.

• Laura Davis, Chargée de mission - AMR, Standards Department, WOAH
  

AMR is a major global health threat, affecting food security and sustainable development. Improving animal welfare reduces stress, strengthens immunity, and reduces the need for antibiotics. Restricting antimicrobials without improving welfare can harm animal health, livelihoods and food safety.

• Dr Thaina Landim De Barros, Four Paws, Multistakeholder Partnership Platform on AMR – Action Group on Animal Welfare – AMR Nexus
  

Animal welfare has to be integrated into the broader transformation of livestock systems. When countries work on sustainability, productivity, climate, and food security, welfare should not be treated as a separate issue but as a core element of those discussions.

• Daniela Battaglia, Livestock Production Officer in the Animal Production and Health Division, FAO
  

A key priority is building collaboration among stakeholders so that animal welfare remains firmly on the agenda of upcoming negotiations and policy processes. By working together—researchers, organizations, and policymakers—we can advocate more effectively and ensure that welfare considerations are included in the decisions that shape livestock systems worldwide.

Animal welfare contributes directly to One Health and household/national food security.

Smallholder farmers benefit significantly from simple welfare improvements (housing, feeding, preventive care).

• Ibtehal Kresha, Agricultural Attaché, Deputy Permanent  Representative of Jordan to FAO

 One of the most critical next steps is ensuring that animal welfare remains visible and central within international negotiations. As governments gather to shape the Global Plan of Action for Sustainable Livestock Transformation, the welfare community must stay engaged so the topic is not overshadowed by other priorities. If we keep welfare embedded in global discussions on sustainability, the benefits will extend across the entire livestock sector.

• Sandy McCleery, Deputy Permanent Representative, United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture in Rome
  

For Uruguay, livestock production is not only an economic activity but part of our national identity and social culture. Because we export most of what we produce, international standards and cooperation are essential. Policies must be science‑based, flexible, and capable of reflecting very different production realities—from extensive pasture systems like ours to more intensive models elsewhere—while still promoting strong animal welfare outcomes.

The most important step is aligning expectations between countries while recognizing that production systems vary widely. Policies must remain open and flexible enough to account for different realities, environments, and cultural contexts. When countries collaborate and acknowledge these differences, it becomes easier to advance animal welfare while maintaining productive and sustainable livestock sectors.

• Antonella Riani, Experto en Acceso a Mercados, National Meat Institute, Uruguay
  

Animal welfare is central to sustainable livestock systems. Success depends on: International cooperation; Science-based standards; Regional adaptation; Farmer engagement; Integration with health and sustainability strategies

• Hsin Huang, Chair Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock
  

Next steps

A full report on the webinar will follow, including detailed summaries of the discussion and audience questions/feedback.

To keep up to date, please follow Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock on LinkedIn or consider joining GASL.