Impacts of climate change and small livestock farming in sub-Saharan Africa
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Livestock farming plays a major role in the survival of millions of African people.
The animals are indeed a source of food and income for livestock farmers, but they also have a significant environmental (production of manure, fuel, cosmetics, building materials, disinfectant, clothes, etc.) and social (dowry, religious rituals) value. Therefore, they play a central role in the economic and human development. As part of its activities, Veterinarians without Borders Belgium (VSF-B, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium) is concerned with Small Scale Livestock Farming (SSLF) and climate change, to the extent that it seeks to develop sustainable livestock farming.
VSF-B is a Belgian NGO which aims to improve access to veterinary care and livestock markets to support local farmers stamping out poverty and food insecurity in nine Sub-Saharan countries.
Small Scale Livestock Farming refers to an extensive livestock farming system where the livestock farmer (one single person, a family, or a small cooperative) is involved in both the ownership and the management of the farm. All parameters (social, economic and environmental) are equally important in the decision making process in Small Scale Livestock Farming, while it differs from the intensive Large Scale Livestock Farming in terms of priority, the latter being more focused on yield.
VSF-B develops programs that are particularly exposed to the risks associated to climate change. As part of its volunteering activity, Enea has performed a prospective study with VSF-B on the expected impacts of climate change on SSLF, and reverse, by 2020, in sub-Saharan African developing countries, in a climate change adaptation / mitigation perspective.
More precisely, the following environmental and social megatrends have been studied: climate change and associated disturbance, population changes, depletion of natural resources, environmental impacts of economic activity, and geopolitical pressure. SSLF has then been analysed with respect to these environmental and social categories.
Such an approach highlights that each environmental and social megatrend presents both risks and opportunities for the SSLF sector in Africa. The study provides some possible mitigation and adaptation actions that can be seen as a starting point to build, on a case-by-case basis, mitigation and adaptation strategies for stakeholders concerned with the link between SSLF and climate change.