Webinar series: Unsustainable livestock farming and its alternatives in a time of COVID-19 – save the dates!

The Global Forest Coalition (GFC) invites you to participate in a webinar series on unsustainable livestock production and alternatives to it, taking place throughout April. These webinars build on a series of regional open dialogues that GFC recently hosted, starting with an African regional dialogue in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in September 2019 which took place back-to-back with the 3rd African Animal Welfare Conference. The Latin American dialogue was then held in Santiago de Chile at the People’s Summit in December 2019 and lastly, the Asian regional dialogue took place in February 2020 in Bogor, Indonesia.

These events highlighted commonalities between the different regions, as well as dynamics specific to them. The extent to which agro-industrial livestock and feedstock production is responsible for deforestation, biodiversity loss, GHG emissions, land grabbing, rights violations for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and health issues in both urban and rural contexts was made clear by participants, who shared their experiences. A comprehensive report on the outcomes of the dialogues will be shared soon (April 17th, 2020).

To build on the conversations that have already started and take stock of the stark changes that the world is facing as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly expands, we are organizing 3 follow-up regional dialogues this month and a global one in May 2020. The webinars will present the results from each of the regional dialogues, and discuss at a regional level the links between the coronavirus outbreak, industrial livestock farming, climate change, deforestation & biodiversity loss, food sovereignty, health, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

Recently, international bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have recognized the livestock industry as one of the most harmful sectors, which has put a spotlight on the issue globally and given campaigning on livestock and feedstock production momentum in international and national policy arenas.

Guest speakers will address the impacts of agro-industrial livestock and feedstock production in their countries, as well as the traditional and agro-ecological practices that are threatened because of it. They will also look at the implications of COVID-19 for the food systems of Indigenous Peoples, pastoralists, and peasant farmers, and the struggles that they face. Finally, we will discuss strengthening the Global Alliance on Unsustainable Livestock and ideas for effective advocacy work.

• LAC regional webinar: April 14th
• Asia-Pacific regional webinar: April 27th, 2020
• African regional webinar: May 4th, 2020
• Global livestock webinar: June 25th, 2020

Watch the 3 regional webinars:

Latin America

Africa

Asia

7 Apr, 2020
Posted in Unsustainable Livestock Production