07-06-2023. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a Global Policy and Business Development expert to lead the development of private and public sector investments for large-scale rangeland restoration through sustainable livestock and livestock product value chains as a contribution to the Global Environment Facility-funded project STELARR (Sustainable Investments for Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration). The global project will be led by ILRI and supporting CGIAR centres in partnership with IUCN. Position location is negotiable. 
ILRI Vacancy: Global Policy and Business Development expert
(Closing date: 16 June 2023)

07-06-2023. On May 30^th, 2023, Dairy Asia and GASL jointly organized the dialogue: goat husbandry and milk production, dedicated to World Milk Day. The event featured key speakers and presenters from leading countries in goat population in Asia, including India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and Israel. News, information and presentations regarding the event are accessible here.

02-01-23  - Join the first session of the  learning series: Supporting compliance with the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products. 

The learning series is a space for practitioners working on different commodities to exchange, understand, and discuss possible solutions to the upcoming mandatory EU due diligence rules on deforestation-free global value chains.
This 60-minute session will be moderated by UNDP’s Food and Agricultural Commodity Systems (FACS) team and will focus on the beef sector. The session will start with a briefing on the legislation, and the main issues around implementation for private sector actors. In addition, a great example from Costa Rica on a traceability system set up as part of FAO-UNDP's Scaling up Climate Ambition on Land Use and Agriculture (SCALA) Project will be presented. It will be an interactive and open-discussion, hence bring your experiences, questions, and knowledge!
The session will take place on February 8^th 2023, at 8:30 am EST, to join  register on Zoom using this link.
The second and third sessions will take place at the end of February and mid-March respectively and will focus on other commodities. Further sessions will be designed based on the needs of the participants and as more details on the DD regulation are clarified.
If you are interested to learn more about the regulation and its compliance mechanisms, there is  a dedicated group where relevant information and updates will be shared. The group will be open throughout the learning series and beyond for follow-up discussions & networking opportunities.  

08-12-2022 - The Asociación Mundial de Ganadería Sostenible  (AMGS)– World Association for Sustainable Livestock- unites livestock producers, professionals, scientists, and other protagonists of the global livestock sector to disseminate the virtues of sustainable production systems. AMGS’ mission is to deepening the concept of sustainable livestock farming and its relationship to achieving Sustainable Development Goals through the promotion of training and dissemination activities. To this purpose, AMGS promotes exchanges, seminars, symposiums, colloquiums, congresses, conferences, face-to-face or virtual meetings, and informative media that highlight livestock's role for the environmental benefits, ecosystem services, respect for animal health and welfare,  food safety, economic growth and poverty reduction, and cultural values. Find more about AMGS here.

05-12-2022 - Launch of the GASL booklet Animal health and welfare for sustainable livestock systems

By Ulf Magnusson, Sofia Boqvist, Rebecca Doyle and Timothy Robinson
The publication explores the diversity of livestock across the world and highlight the synergies between good animal health and animal welfare and how those may positively impact animal productivity, economic growth and livelihood, human nutrition, food safety, reduction of the risk for zoonotic transmission, reduction of the need for antimicrobials, natural resource use efficiency, reduction of green-house gas emissions as well the adoption to climate change.
The event will take place online on December 13th at 13:00-14:00 CET.
For more information click here. To register click here.

04-11-2022 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA - USA) and the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL - Italy) are hosting a webinar on Silvipastoral Systems in Colombia. The objective of the webinar is to disseminate silvipastoral practices (SPS) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as to understand the main obstacles for large-scale adoption in LAC. Speakers will demonstrate the multiple functions of SPS (economic, social and environmental), the various forms of implementation and management of these systems, the concern and commitment of the livestock sector to contribute to reducing greenhouse gases, and the various national policies about livestock farming.  The main barriers to the scaling up of these systems in the country will also be discussed.

The event will take place on 8 November  2022, 10:00 am
Colombian time (GMT-5). Register here (Spanish only)

On 7 October, the 12^th Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Meeting of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) finished a week of valuable and lively knowledge exchange and discussions on livestock sector actions towards more sustainable food systems. All keynote, regional, action network and policy forum presentations and videos are available in the meeting’s page of the GASL website.

The Dublin Communiqué was produced as a summary statement of the 12^th GASL MSP Meeting to disseminate the main concluding messages. It renews GASL’s shared commitment to sustainable development of the livestock sector as a key element of sustainable and resilient food systems in the four sustainability domains adopted by GASL in 2018, in alignment with the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The communiqué also calls for various actions that will continue strengthening livestock sustainability worldwide.

One hundred and forty eight in-person participants gathered along the week in Dublin at the invitation of the Government of Ireland. The streaming videos of the week sessions have had already more than 1,500 views in YouTube.

A more detailed summary presentation of the 12th GASL MSP Meeting can be found here.

19-09-2022 On behalf of the GASL Chair, Shirley Tarawali, we would like to offer the opportunity to register for virtual participation in the 12^th GASL MSP Meeting to be held on 3-7 October 2022 at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. The meeting agenda summary can be found here  for your reference and the detailed agenda will be shared in due course.

In order to ensure your valuable virtual participation in Ireland, kindly register here for the 12^th MSP meeting no later than 25 September 2022.

07-09-2022 - While livestock is the fastest growing agriculture sub-sector in Africa, there is growing reluctance to fund it due to strong international opposition to livestock because of publicized negative impacts of industrial livestock systems in terms of high greenhouse emissions and over-consumption of animal-sourced foods.  

Join this AGRF session to explore some of the challenging issues around milk, meat and eggs, why we need to change the narrative around sustainable livestock, considering the strong evidence of the positive dimensions livestock bring to the 2030 Agenda and the transformation of African food systems. The session will showcase examples of projects where livestock played a pivotal role in food systems transformation and, through a high-level panel discussion, make a case for increased government and private sector investments in sustainable livestock, especially in Africa.

Friday, 9 September 2022, 09:00 – 10:30 Central Africa Time. Find here the registration link to access the livestream

On June 21-23, 2022, the 2nd GASL Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Regional Meeting for Eastern Europe and Central Asia was held in Tashkent in a hybrid format as part of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock partnership. The meeting was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the State committee of veterinary and livestock development of the Republic of Uzbekistan under the slogan "Livestock for sustainable food systems". About 140 people participate in the meeting offline, including 25 foreign guests. One hundred people registered to participate online, 75 of which were foreign representatives. Read more here.

28-06-2022 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA - USA), the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL - Italy), and the Federal University of São João del Rei (UFSJ - Brazil) are hosting a webinar on Silvipastoral Systems in Brazil. The objective of the webinar is to disseminate silvipastoral practices (SPS) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as to understand the main obstacles for large-scale adoption in LAC. Speakers will demonstrate the multiple functions of SPS (economic, social and environmental), the various forms of implementation and management of these systems, the concern and commitment of the livestock sector to contribute to reducing greenhouse gases, and the various national policies about livestock farming. Young Brazilians will also be called to share their vision and desires about livestock production.
The event will take place on 7 July 2022, 09:00 am Brazilian time (GMT-3).  Register here.

02-06-2022 - The Global Forum on GHG Emissions - agri benchmark Beef and Sheep Conference is a semi-public event organized by the Thünen Institut/ agri benchmark. The event will be held on Friday, 17 June 2022, 9:00 -16:00 CEST (UTC+02:00). To participate registration is required. Click here to register

11-03-2022 - Two important resources on livestock and gender are flagged:

International Women's Day 2022: podcast with Alessandra Galiè (Gender Team Leader at the International Livestock Research Institute), Upendo Ramadhani Simba (university graduate of animal sciences), and Adolf Jeremiah (research field coordinator at the International Livestock Research Institute) on the importance of livestock to women.  Accessible here 

The Livestock and Gender Data community co-hosted by Livestock Data for Decisions and the International Livestock Research Institute to support learning and innovation and foster discussions on livestock and gender data.  For more information visit here

09-03-2022 - The Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock’s report to the Sub-Committee on Livestock outlining GASL key activities since October 2020 and GASL 2022–2024 Action Plan is available here.
The report has been made accessible in 6 different languages:  EN FR ES ZH AR RU

01-07-2021 - The Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit will take place in Rome from 26 to 28 July 2021. The event will bring together youth, farmers, indigenous peoples, civil society, researchers, private sector, policy leaders and ministers of agriculture, environment, health, nutrition and finance, among other participants. This year the event will take a hybrid format with in-person components complemented by virtual programmes and platforms. [Read more]

13-07-2021

Permanence of PES and the role of social context in the Regional Integrated Silvo-pastoral Ecosystem Management Project in Costa Rica. 

Measured ammonia emissions from tropical and subtropical pastures: A comparison with 2006 IPCC, 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC, and EMEP/EEA (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme and European Environmental Agency) inventory estimates. 

Marginal Abatement Cost Curves for Latin American dairy production: A Costa Rica case study. [Read more]

Day 5: New livestock opportunities: building forward

Day 4: Shaping the future for the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock

Day 2: What do livestock stakeholders say around the world about embracing change and harnessing diversity in the livestock sector?

Day 1: Exploring the global context and opportunities for livestock

30-04-2021 - The International Livestock Research Institute is pleased to announce the launching of a series of briefs on One Health which aim to highlight the benefits of the One Health approach for improving sustainable livestock production and strengthening livelihoods and improve our understanding of the complex linkages between the wider environment, animal, and human health.

One Health approaches work across sectors and scales for better health outcomes for people, animals, and the environment. It recognizes the interconnections between all three.

The series of seven key messages and more than 20 practical action areas provide governments, investors, experts in One Health and policymakers options to invest in better health and improved food systems. The interventions emphasize the need to move to actions that are adaptive and flexible in local contexts.

You can view the briefs here

23 April 2021- The next Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock ‘s Action Network webinar will present silvopastoral systems and their potential to improve adaptation and resilience of the livestock sector. Based on the importance of addressing resilience in the livestock sector, the Global Network on Silvopastoral Systems’ event will provide an overview of the situation and potential of silvopastoral systems in different parts of the world, with particular emphasis on their capacity to increase adaptation and resilience. The webinar will feature different silvopastoral approaches developed by leader institutions. Read more.

08-04-2021 - The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) are organizing a  virtual conversation entitled Grazing Livestock: Building Sustainable Protein Supply Chains in anticipation of the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS). This dialogue will explore grazing livestock and its role in building a sustainable protein supply chain. The event is intended to bring together a diverse set of stakeholders for a bold, solutions-oriented discussion for nutritious and sustainable diets, explore best practices and challenge attendees to answer what’s next, what’s missing, how we can do better. The virtual room will host producers, academics, NGOs, policy makers and civil society to push the boundaries and contribute to the UN’s overarching goal of improving the food system. CCA and NCC’s dialogue will be performed in three parts across three days:

• Session 1: Grazing Animals: Nature-Based Solutions for Sustainable Production on Tuesday, April 27^th, 2021 from 1-3pm EST 
• Session 2: Grazing Animals and Sustainable Consumption on Wednesday, April 28^th, 2021 from 1-3pm EST 
• Session 3: Nature Meets Nutrition: Grazing Animals and Sustainable Diets  on Thursday, April 29^th, 2021 from 1-3pm EST.

The dialogue is posted on the UNFSS landing page and can be found here.

31-03-2021 - Recent presentations from Dr. Jude Capper for the NFU East Midlands Livestock Board and Mid-Staffs NFU meeting are available online. The presentations highlight important information on sustainability and livestock production and are accessible here: 

• “How do we sustain cattle industry sustainability?” NFU East Midlands Livestock Board; March 25th, 2021.  Click here for presentation as a PDF.  DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36729.80489
• “Livestock sustainability – how do we maintain, improve and communicate it?” Mid-Staffs NFU meeting; January 20th, 2021.  Click here for presentation as a PDF.  DOI:  10.13140/RG.2.2.20482.30403

08-04-2021 - The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) is happy to announce its annual conference themed “Exploring Sustainability in Animal Agriculture”. The conference will convene on  April 21-April 23, 2021 and provide the opportunity to engage with key visionary leaders and panellists to explore their insights and expertise on economic, environmental and social issues related to animal agriculture.
Review the full agenda, speaker lineup and register for the annual conference here.

26-03-2021 - In order to foster coordinated action and support potential synergies, the GASL Secretariat has conducted a consultation among GASL organizations  to get an indication on the planning or involvement of activities in relation to relevant events and topics for sustainable livestock in 2021. The following table presents major events, organizations involvement and contact details [click here].

15-03-2021 - HealthforAnimals is the global animal health association, representing manufacturers of veterinary medicines and other health products such as vaccines, diagnostics, nutritional supplements, digital technologies, parasiticides, and antibiotics. The partner’s members believe animals will be at the center of the global effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and improving their care offers an opportunity to accelerate efforts on key SDGs... [read more]

15 March 2021 - In view of the UN’s aim to develop a post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the Animal Task Force organizes the virtual seminar "What livestock has to offer to biodiversity and healthy soils" on 21 April, 9:30-12:30 CET.
The seminar's aim is to explore the different pathways to support animal production’s role in biodiversity conservation and to address how research and innovation can support the livestock sector in the task.
The event will bring together farmers, industries, scientists, policymakers, and actors across civil society to discuss and examine all the possible links and interactions of livestock with biodiversity protection.
The full program of the event is available here and the registration form here.

Four GASL partners, the Global Dairy Platform, the International Dairy Federation, the International Livestock Research Institute and the Food and Agriculture Organization, hosted a webinar on the initiative "Net Zero, Pathways to Low Carbon Dairy” on 24 February.
During the event, partners discussed ways to promote and operationalize desired pathways to low carbon dairy and possible forms of engagement for GASL stakeholders and wider communities.
Watch the webinar here. At the request of some stakeholders, the Q&A session after the presentations is not included in this recording. 

GASL and LEAP are key research and technology-transfer cooperation networks for tackling food insecurity and climate change

On 22 January 2021, the 76 Ministers’ delegations participating in the  Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), themed  “How to feed the world in times of pandemics and climate change?”, expressed on a communiqué their support to the role of  global cooperation to strengthen the sustainability of agri-food systems. As the world population grows and hunger and malnutrition persist, the communiqué focused on the need to significantly strengthen cross-sectoral, multilateral cooperation and solidarity for access to food, preservation of the planet and prevention of future pandemics. Read more

Join UN DESA on 2 December 2020 at 9:00 (EST) for the online event "Good Practices on SDG Implementation - Inspiring Examples to Drive Change."  The webinar will provide an opportunity to hear about exemplary SDG Good Practices, including their main achievements and how identified solutions could be scaled up to support the Decade of Action, including in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Read more 

During the 27th Session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG27) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) delegates discussed, among other important items, the proposal by the Government of Mongolia to establish the observance of an International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP)in 2026. More than 50 governments and 150 organizations expressed their support to the proposal, which was endorsed by COAG on 2 October 2020 and will be further considered for approval at the next session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.  

Read more

The virtual conference “Galvanizing partnerships for promoting resilient agriculture and food systems in Africa in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic” organized by the Cultivate Africa Dialogue initiative of the African Union is taking place on 17 and 18 November 2020.  The event will be an opportunity for GASL stakeholders to further explore the interconnected challenges to the threats of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Agriculture Industry in Africa, with a view of providing effective solutions. A broad range of stakeholders will incorporate diverse perspectives and facilitate an interactive dialogue. 
Register now 

Rangelands cover over half of the Earth’s surface and are critical for the socio-economic wellbeing of 500 million pastoralists as well as for challenging climate and food security solutions. The government of Mongolia is advocating for the UN to declare the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) at the 2020 meeting of the Committee on Agriculture. The IYRP will contribute for increasing awareness and global attention towards the key role of pastoralists and rangelands in the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Find interesting sources and more information on rangelands and pastoralist in support of the call for an UN-designated IYRP here.

The GASL virtual MSP meetings took place from 31 August to 18 September 2020 and had eight regional components with more than 600 registrations and 400 participations, including more than 50 persons (Guiding Group and Action Network members, GASL partners and others) involved in the organization and conduction of the meetings. The regions successfully organized and engaged regional components and actors from GASL Clusters and Action Networks and other livestock stakeholders. [Read more]  [Explore the documents]

The selection of the Chair for GASL is a process with several steps: a FAO public vacancy announcement, the reception of applications, the screening of the long list, the short-listed candidates, the nomination of the three finalists by the GASL Guiding Group, the debate of the finalists and the final selection of the Chair by the Guiding Group. After a lively debate with candidate Fabiana Villa Alves, Embrapa Shirley Tarawali, ILRI, was elected by consensus by the GASL Guiding Group. [Read more]

Often small-scale farmers are still largely invisible in policy and programming and in international forums. Nevertheless,  global food security crucially relies on these forms of farming. 

In the occasion of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS 47): ‘SDG 2 and “building back better” - contributions of working livestock, the Brooke and the African Union Intra-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AUIBAR) organize a virtual event on 10 February, 2 – 3.30 pm (UK time), to discuss small-scale farmers’ key role.

The event will bring together experts from across the global civil society, multilateral organisztions and academia to critically examine the role of working livestock in food security through a gender lens, and make recommendations for policy and practice.  

Registration is free and open at  thebrooke.org/food-security-event.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated livestock’s significant capacity for resilience in times of crisis. This  webinar aims at initiating the discussion of resilience within the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock focusing on the relationship between animal health and production, livelihoods, climate change and COVID-19.

Read more

The Livestock Antimicrobial Partnership (LAMP), an Action Network of GASL, hosted by SLU Global arranged on 17 November a webinar about antimicrobial use and resistance in the livestock sector in low-income countries. With more than 250 registrations from all over the world, the virtual event brought together technical experts from the World Bank, CGIAR, VSF, OIE, FAO and SLU to share their knowledge in six keynote presentations. The discussions provided an informed foundation for exploring ways towards a more medically rational and responsible use of antimicrobials in the livestock sector in low-income countries. 

Read more