GASL’s Fritz Schneider on livestock and the SDGs at Berlin’s Global Forum for Food and Agriculture

Fritz Schneider, chair of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL), making a presentation at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

On 18 Jan 2018, one ten expert panel discussions at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) was held on Sustainable solutions to the livestock sector: The time is ripe! This two-hour session was organized jointly by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) and the Livestock Global Alliance (LGA).

This session was moderated by ILRI Assistant Director General Shirley Tarawali. Following a welcome by ILRI Director General Jimmy Smith, Stefan Schmidt, head of BMZ’s division of rural development and food security and commissioner for BMZ’s special initiative on One World–No Hunger, gave an opening speech.

Fritz Schneider, chair of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL), then gave a short overview of livestock and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Schneider began by arguing that livestock matter to human development.

• Demand for livestock products is growing rapidly due to growing incomes, urbanization, population growth and changing food habits.
• To meet the demand, traditional smallholder livestock systems and modern forms of intensive livestock production are needed.
• Smallholder systems have an enormous potential to increase production and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions per unit of milk or meat produced.
• Livestock impact the environment and both positive and negative impacts need to be addressed.

He then described GASL, an inclusive multi-stakeholder platform of more than 100 members addressing the intersections of livestock with global food security and health, equity and growth, and resources and climate.

The GASL chair then briefly described how GASL is supporting meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. . . .  Read the whole article on the ILRI News blog.