Looking ahead: Elements of future strategies

Previous section The need to selectively develop infrastructure

The need to change perspective

All of the above changes will be brought about only if industry, policy makers and environmental groups:

- remove the emotional conjecture, lack of objectivity and over-simplification from the debate on livestock-environment relationships;
- acknowledge the need to correct unsustainable livestock production systems and act accordingly. In the developing world, where environmental pressure will grow most strongly over the next decades, policy makers must heed the strong warning signs and learn from the errors of the industrialized world;
- accept the ample evidence that the contribution of livestock to sustainable development can be greatly enhanced, provided the appropriate enabling environment is created, and act accordingly;
- take full account in future policy and planning of the dramatic changes transforming the global livestock sector. The shift towards grain crops for feed use may turn animal production into the single most important agricultural activity on the planet. Selecting the right land and water resources, efficient generation of feed, transporting feed to farm animals, the conversion of feed into animal protein, the marketing of products as well as the adoption of healthy consumer habits by, particularly, wealthier individuals, plus the potential synergism between efficient resource use and economy-wide development: all of these factors need to become integral parts of the livestock-environment equation.

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