First Global Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on Sustainable Livestock

Brasília, Brasil - May 17 to 20, 2011

• Introduction
• A brief history
• Where are we now?
• Vision
• Scope
• Thematic focus
• Mission and Function
• Form and Governance
• Funding
• Next steps

Introduction

Growing populations, income gains and urbanization have made livestock one of the fastest growing sub-sectors of agriculture. Past sector expansion in developed countries and more recently in emerging nations, has been impressive and has been associated with a widespread transformation of the livestock sector. Ensuring that the continuing demand expansion for livestock products does not increase pressure on natural resources and contributes to socially desirable outcomes, however, will require further adjustments and improvements in sector policies, governance and investments.

The livestock sector has particularly come into focus as worries about climate change, sustainability of food systems and public health protection and the urgency of poverty reduction through agricultural development continue to grow. Such concerns are even more important as the world’s livestock production is expected to double by 2050 to feed its then population of more than 9.3 billion. Livestock are a vital component of agriculture and can significantly promote movements out of poverty in agrarian settings in developing countries. Possession of animals has been shown to signify essential place-markers in households’ trajectories upward out of poverty; livestock can provide a store of wealth and a productive asset that can lead to higher incomes through increases in agricultural productivity and diversification of income sources.

Currently, the livestock sector is the world’s largest user of agricultural land, directly as pasture and indirectly through the use of feed crops, and livestock source food requires more land, energy and water resources per unit product than most other food products. Meat, milk and eggs will therefore only be able to contribute sustainably to global food security if these higher resource needs will be brought in line with global resource availability. There is, however, large potential to reduce the sector’s ecological foot print, and enhance its role in nutrient recycling and biodiversity conservation. This can be done by addressing existing policy failures such as access to land, subsidies on inputs (water, feed and energy), by aligning incentives to environmental outcomes, penalizing the polluters and rewarding providers of environmental services and by promoting best practices. Previous experiences have shown the major contribution that livestock farming can make to carbon sequestration and the enrichment of the bio-diversity through the introduction of new technology and payment for environmental services. In other places, important reductions in water use and pollution have been achieved by reconnecting specialized livestock production with crop agriculture.

The livestock sector can thus support significantly the achievements of society’s environmental, social, economic and health objectives if technological change continues and accelerates to effect the necessary increase in resource use efficiency, and if the necessary policy changes, adjustments in the regulatory frameworks, and supporting investments are made. This involves the interaction of many actors with different and competing agendas.

The development of a Global Agenda of Action aims to respond to these opportunities.

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A brief history

The initiative is linked closely to the FAO’s inter-governmental processes of its Committee on Agriculture which, during its 22nd session (COAG, 2010), recommended the organization to actively engage in consultations to continue the global dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders to sharpen the definition of the livestock sector’s objectives, taking into account the disparities among production systems, the proliferation of private standards, the countries’ rates of economic development, the role of smallholders, the importance of exports, and the use and status of natural resources.

On the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture, and Innovation of the Netherlands (MEAAI), a number of countries and international organizations , called the “Dialogue Group”, convened during the session of the FAO COAG in June 2010 in Rome and agreed to broadly consult on how to accommodate livestock production and sector growth in a socio-economic and environmentally sustainable fashion in the resource constrained environment of the future.  They recommended the development of an Agenda of Action, which would seek to responsibly shape the sector’s role in future global food production systems. A second meeting of this Dialogue Group was held from 30 October to 2 November 2010 in the Hague, the Netherlands in parallel with the Global Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, organized by MEAAI, and suggested that a Global Agenda of Action for Sustainable Livestock Sector Development should be built on broad based, voluntary and informal stakeholder commitment to act towards improved sector performance by targeting natural resource protection, while including poverty reduction and public health protection, as they relate to the livestock sector. During this meeting, it was also decided to entrust the preparatory phase of an Agenda of Action to the Animal Production and Health Division of the FAO.

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Where are we now?

To ensure the constructive participation of countries, private sector, civil society, and international organization stakeholders in the development of a Global Agenda of Action, AGA, in close collaboration with the World Bank, have been involved in broad consultations to create awareness and to invite stakeholders to a first multi-stakeholder consultation in Brazil, to discuss and agree the objectives, the priorities and the conceptual framework for a Global Agenda of Action.

The first multi-stakeholder platform meeting was hosted by Brazil in Brasilia, from 17 to 20 May 2011. The meeting brought together nearly 70 representatives from all stakeholder groupings from across the globe, and featured a broad range of technical and stakeholder perspective presentations in respect of resource use efficiency in the livestock sector. This sharing of experiences, policies and practices, stimulated constructive discussions on how an Agenda of Action should be shaped and positioned to best facilitate sustainable livestock sector development. Some key considerations were:

• The importance of the reflection on the cultural, technological and production system differences among countries and regions in decision making processes;
• Price distortions and non-tariff trade barriers influence the functioning of agricultural markets, reduce developing countries’ competitiveness, and delays the spread and use of sustainable farming technologies.
• There are numerous other initiatives on sustainable livestock sector development. These include, among others, ongoing activities related to the intensification of pastoral systems, land and water use, carbon sequestration, management practices, the role of livestock in livelihoods, and the overall benefits arising from animal products for health and nutrition. The more effective sharing of the institutional lessons and technological knowledge from these initiatives among stakeholders and countries could significantly contribute to the identification of sustainable practices;

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Building on the above activities and the described principles of a Global Agenda of Action, the meeting agreed the following in respect of A Global Agenda of Action in support of Sustainable Livestock Sector Development:

Vision

“Sustainable livestock sector development which contributes to food and nutritional security - in a context of rapidly growing demand and resource scarcity -, enhances its contribution to broad-based economic growth, livelihoods and wellbeing of actors in the livestock sector, uses natural resources efficiently, recognizes regional diversity, and contributes to the health and welfare of human and animal populations.”

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Scope

The scope of a Global Agenda of Action is global and covers all major livestock sector systems, stakeholders, and related value chains.

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Thematic focus

The Global Agenda of Action focuses on the improvement of resource-use efficiency in the global livestock sector to support livelihoods, long-term food security and economic growth while safeguarding other environmental and public health outcomes, factoring in regional differences, and linking to other related initiatives as appropriate.

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Mission and Function

A Global Agenda of Action supports improved resource use in the livestock sector resulting from changed practices by stakeholders; and adoption, by the public and private sector, of guidance and recommendations to make livestock food value chains more sustainable. It will achieve this through:

• Strategic analyses, including policy and institutional analyses, methodology and investment guidelines development in support of sustainable livestock sector development;
• Generation and sharing of local and global knowledge, experiences, and practices through R&D, dialogue, and dissemination;
• Promotion of capacity building;
• Support to the piloting of new approaches within livestock sector systems, stakeholders, and related value chains to test, validate, and transfer practices;
• Advocacy, including the promotion of sustainable livestock sector development within existing inter-governmental and other processes.

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Form and Governance

Oversight mechanisms and their respective governance functions for a Global Agenda of Action will be further defined as part of the current preparatory phase and needs to clearly reflect its multi-stakeholder nature. At the moment the following components are agreed:

• Open multi-stakeholder platform and network - All stakeholders including governments, private sector, civil society, academia and international organizations to seek consensus on the challenges the sector faces;
• Steering committee – Key stakeholder representation selected by and from the Multi-stakeholder platform and network (members possibly by caucus) to provide oversight on a Global Agenda of Action activities. For the continuing preparatory phase of the Global Agenda of Action, an interim Preparatory Committee (Netherlands, Brazil, New Zealand, (Ethiopia?, (India?), USA, China, Switzerland. WWF, GRSB, IMS, IFIF, IDF, IPC, AU/IBAR, ILRI supported by WB, FAO) will develop a proposal to constitute a Steering Committee at launch, facilitate next steps, and assist in the identification and definition of a funding strategy.
• Not discussed in Brazil -Think Tanks - Panels of high level specialists, for independent broad picture analysis and foresight on the issues to be identified during the preparatory phase. These panels would be tailored to the specific issue under study and will have independent leadership.  A strict peer review mechanism could be one feature of oversight for this function. Sub-contracting this function to an independent think tank, such as, for example, a university would be another possibility. The need for Think tanks will be discussed at the next multi-stakeholder platform meeting;
• Global Agenda of Action Secretariat –Interim secretariat to stay with FAO until launch.

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Funding

Investment for the global promotion of an Agenda of Action could be sought from platform members, membership fees, network fees, or through grant applications. A broader network of professionals can help shape the agenda through in-kind contributions. The Preparatory Committee is charged with the development of a funding strategy.

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Next steps

Global and regional stakeholder consultations will continue and the multi-stakeholder platform and process will be further developed through virtual networking on the website: www.livestockdialogue.org.

Proposals on all decisions that are part of this Brasilia Consensus will be developed by the secretariat in close collaboration with the interim Preparatory Committee and shared with the multi-stakeholder platform for consultation and comments.

The next multi-stakeholder platform meeting, to be held in Phuket, Thailand from 1 to 4 December 2011, will be another intermediary step, to find agreement on these proposals, including governance mechanisms and Steering Committee selection criteria, in final preparation for a launch of a Global Agenda of Action in the first quarter of 2012.

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