Calls for us all to switch entirely to plant-based foods ignore one of the most powerful tools we have to mitigate these ills: grazing and browsing animals. Continue reading
Category Archives: Advocacy
Advocacy / Biodiversity / Communications / Crop-Livestock / Environment / Food Security / Nutrition / Opinion piece / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock
One-size-fits-all ‘livestock less’ measures will not serve some one billion smallholder livestock farmers and herders
Once again, the debate on sustainable diets and in particular on (not) eating animal-derived products is resurfacing in the media, as illustrated most recently by an article in The Guardian. The paper reported on a study by J. Poore and T. Nemecek entitled ‘Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers’, published in the latest edition of Science magazine. Continue reading
Advocacy / Communications / Markets / News clipping / Policy
Win in old ‘real-world’ markets by capturing mind shares (claiming bandwidth) in the new ‘narrative markets’
Competing successfully in ‘old’ markets for capital, labour, goods and services no longer suffices. Firms, governments and other actors are compelled to create, contend and collaborate in new markets with distinct features and operating rules—markets for narratives. Continue reading
Advocacy / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / Livelihoods / Nutrition / Opinion piece / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Vulnerability
Why livestock belong on the table—whether we eat meat or not
Berhe Tekola, director of the Animal Production and Health Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this weekpublished an opinion piece in the Bangkok Post (25 Jun 2018), reminds readers that livestock are integral to the fabric of life in many developing countries. Continue reading
Advocacy / Buffalo / Camels / Cattle / Farming Systems / Food Security / Goats / Livestock Systems / Opinion piece / Policy / Rangelands / Sheep / Small Ruminants
Is promoting vegetarianism for all the world’s people a form of colonialism? just Euro-centric?
The debate over whether a vegetarian diet is better for the planet is top of mind for many as news of water scarcity, climate change, and deforestation seem to worsen by the day. Sarah Taber, a US-based agricultural scientist added another angle to the debate earlier this month when she laid out the argument that calling vegetarianism and/or veganism a universally ‘better’ diet is a form of colonialist thinking. Continue reading
Advocacy / Africa / Asia / Biodiversity / Consumption / Drylands / Latin America / Opinion piece / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Vulnerability
A better way for vegans, vegetarians, meat eaters and livestock herders alike—By ecologist Ian Scoones
Agricultural ecologist Ian Scoones has some important and thoughtful things to say about the science and media publications promoting the recent ‘vegan craze’ in rich countries and the impacts of those publications on millions of livestock herders in poor countries. Continue reading
It’s not enough to go vegetarian to fight climate change
What the evidence shows is that becoming vegetarian might help reduce your personal footprint—but it will be better to focus on a range of solutions if we want to have an impact on climate change.
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