Livestock and the Environment - International Conference

One of the greatest challenges faced by mankind is to satisfy the needs of the fast growing global population and at the same time preserve land, water, air and biodiversity resources. Livestock are a crucial element in this balancing process. Demand for livestock products is growing fast, especially in the developing world. Livestock, through their multiple functions, are a cornerstone of the livelihood of most of the rural population in the developing world. On the other hand, livestock use around 60 percent of the world's land area, including one fifth of the world's crop lands, and therefore interact directly and indirectly with a large part of the world's natural resources. Positioning livestock in such a way that it can satisfy future demands, while preserving the natural resource base, is therefore a critical element of sustainable agricultural development. With this challenge in mind, a group of bilateral and multilateral development agencies requested FAO, the World Bank and USAID to lead the preparation of a major study on livestock - environment interactions. With the help of the international scientific community a state - of - the - art review on livestock - environment interactions has been prepared. The International Conference on Livestock and the Environment was held to share this information with a much broader audience and to translate the information into concrete guidelines for regional and national policies. The International Conference further aimed at formulating follow - up actions and identifying pilot activities to test innovative approaches. The proceedings of this conference contain the papers presented, and the conclusions and recommendations of the conference workshops. The recommendations will serve as a guideline for the Steering Committee of the Livestock - Environment Initiative to initiate follow - up action. A translation of the recommendations into Spanish and French is included in the proceedings.