Sustainable Livestock

It protects natural resources, enhances economic resilience, and contributes to a more sustainable and resilient future. In addition, sustainable livestock helps increase productivity, reduce production costs, and enhance market competitiveness, ultimately contributing to economic growth and rural development.

Furthermore, incorporating trees into livestock production systems through practices like agroforestry, agroecology, and agro-silvopastoral systems can yield multiple benefits. Silvopastoral systems, which integrate trees, forage crops, and livestock, promote biodiversity and enhance carbon sequestration.

This involves optimizing feed conversion, reducing feed waste, improving nutrient utilization, minimizing land and water resource degradation, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigating environmental degradation. Additionally, there is a need to prioritize the adoption of climate-smart agriculture and livestock practices.

More than 90 developing countries have included livestock in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), a core national commitment adopted by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More needs to be done as the livestock sector is growing rapidly. Livestock contributes 34 percent of global protein for human nutrition. But their contribution to food security and nutrition goes beyond this figure.

Governance of the livestock sector and  zero-deforestation commitments from governments are important policy measures: they can ramp up carbon offsets by promoting a low-emission and sustainable livestock sector and foster the capitalization of nature-based solutions. FAO supports sustainable governance of land tenure - including the community-land used by pastoral communities for grazing.