However, the nature of livestock farming is determined by policy and institutional frameworks that rarely favour the poor.

Part one: Background papers - Keynote paper: the contribution of livestock to food security and sustainable development; Development support an livestock services; Impact of human activities and livestock on the African environment an attempt to partition the pressure; Part two: Issues, constraints and opportunities for livestock development; Macroeconomic, international trade and sectoral policies in livestock development an analysis with particular reference to low income countries; Research and technology tansfer for livestock development; Part three;Options for increasing livestock contribution from the major production systems; Redesigning for risk, tracking and buffering environmental variability in Africa rangelands; Mixed farming systems in subSaharanAfrica; Livestock, feeds and mixed farming systems in West Asia and North Africa; Constraints, and opportunities for livestock development in mixed farming systems in tropical; Mixed farming and intensification of animal production systems in Asia; Part Four: Working grooooooooooooup sessions.

For decades, the livestock debate has focused on how to increase production in a sustainable manner. However, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has shifted the emphasis from fostering sustainable production per se, to enhancing the contribution of the sector to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This publication examines the sector’s interaction with each of these Goals, as well as the potential synergies, trade-offs, and complex interlinkages. This global report is intended to serve as a reference framework that Member States and stakeholders can use as they engage in the transformation process of the livestock sector towards sustainability. It calls for an integrated approach towards livestock sustainable development, highlights the effective adaptation of the SDGs into specific and targeted national policy action as the major challenge ahead, and flags the steps in the implementation road map.

The book provides critical information and knowledge on the importance of livestock in the global effort to alleviate poverty and promote human health. It describes and evaluates case studies, examines theoretical frameworks, and discusses key global policy development issues, challenges and constraints related to smallholder livestock-production systems around the globe. The book is written for academic professionals, industry experts, government officials and other scholars interested in the facts and issues concerning the contribution of livestock to the social and economic progress of developing countries.

"The assessment builds on the work of the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative"--Pref.