Mainstreaming animal welfare in sustainable development

The report highlights that animal welfare is largely absent from sustainable development governance, despite evidence that current animal treatment hinders the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. It identifies critical links between industrial livestock farming and public health threats like antimicrobial resistance and zoonoses, as well as environmental degradation. The authors propose three pathways for mainstreaming: incorporating animal welfare into international legal instruments, adopting national policies to support sustainable practices (including economic and regulatory tools), and enhancing knowledge, capacity, and representation for animals.

• Animal welfare is currently a marginal issue in global sustainable development governance; specifically, none of the 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reference the welfare of individual animals.
• Industrial livestock farming contributes to significant global health risks, including the emergence of zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance alone was directly responsible for 1.27 million human deaths in 2019.
• Industrial animal agriculture is a primary driver of deforestation and consumes significantly more land and water than plant-based alternatives.
• The climate crisis and human-induced environmental changes, such as pollution from plastics and fossil fuels, create new threats for animals that may occur faster than their ability to evolve.
• The authors propose strengthening the 'One Health' framework by expanding it into a 'One Welfare' approach that incorporates the mental and physical welfare of non-human animals, rather than focusing only on animal health as it relates to human health.
• To disincentivize harmful practices, governments should implement full-cost pricing, phase down agricultural subsidies for industrial livestock, and increase subsidies for plant-based or cell-based alternatives.

APA

Verkuijl, C., Sebo, J., Hötzel, M. J., Visseren-Hamakers, I., Achakulwisut, P., Lima, M. B., & Green, J. (2022). Mainstreaming animal welfare in sustainable development. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/animal-welfare-stockholm50backgroundpaper.pdf

Chicago

Verkuijl, Cleo, Jeff Sebo, Maria José Hötzel, Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers, Ploy Achakulwisut, Mairon Bastos Lima, and Jonathan Green. Mainstreaming animal welfare in sustainable development. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/animal-welfare-stockholm50backgroundpaper.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{verkuijl2022mainstreaming, author = {Verkuijl, Cleo and Sebo, Jeff and Hötzel, Maria José and Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid and Achakulwisut, Ploy and Lima, Mairon Bastos and Green, Jonathan}, title = {{Mainstreaming animal welfare in sustainable development}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/animal-welfare-stockholm50backgroundpaper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }