LIVESTOCK AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Hello everyone!

I am very happy to post my first report in ambassador tab. Thanks to eco- generation for selecting me as regional ambassador for Nepal.

I am an undergrad veterinary student. I love to work with animals and environment. Fortunately, the theme of World Veterinary Day 2020, which falls on April 25, is “Environmental protection for improving animal and human health.” The effect of climate change on animal health may be either direct or indirect and may be due primarily to changes in environmental conditions, which include air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and frequency and magnitude of extreme events (i.e., heat waves, severe droughts, extreme precipitation events, and coastal floods).

In the face of growing world human and animal populations and rapid environmental change, the linkages between human, animal, and environmental health are becoming more evident. Because animals and humans have shared risk to health from changing environments, it seems logical to expand the perspective of public health beyond a single species to detect and manage emerging public health threats. Climate change is expected to exert an overwhelming negative effect on livestock health and welfare. Several studies suggest that the expected increase of air temperatures might reduce the risk of death and improve health and welfare of humans and livestock living in areas with very cold winters. The negative effects of climate change on animal health and welfare will be the consequence of combined changes of air temperature, precipitation, frequency, and magnitude of extreme weather events and may be both direct and indirect.  The direct effects of climate change may be due primarily to increased temperatures and frequency and intensity of heat waves. Depending on its intensity and duration, heat stress may affect livestock health by causing metabolic disruptions, oxidative stress, and immune suppression causing infections and death. The indirect effects of climate change are primarily those linked to quantity and quality of feedstuffs and drinking water and survival and distribution of pathogens and/or their vectors. Development and application of methods linking climate data with disease occurrence should be implemented to prevent and/or manage climate-associated diseases. Heat stress cause immunosuppression in animals. There is the reduction on the growth and production of livestock, eggs, egg, decreased potential of reproduction, quality of sperm, embryo survival. The possible ways for adaption to increasing temperature can be possibility in the change in animal behavior, grassing time in night time rather than day time, bathing, change in bedding material. Animal health and environment is interlinked. Similarly, enteric fermentation and manure storage release the gas which has a high potent in causing global warming. The livestock sector requires a significant amount of natural resources and has an important role in global greenhouse gas emissions. The most important greenhouse gases from animal agriculture are methane and nitrous oxide.

So, the knowledge on livestock health and environment is in great needs in today’s world where we are combatting the consequences of climate change.

References:

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114426
https://academic.oup.com/af/article/9/1/26/5168813