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There is a need of information about environmental restrictions relevant to trade in livestock products and livestock production inputs and the analysis of the issues at stake such as the implications of international standards on the structure of the livestock sector, its location, scale and intensity, and subsequent implications on environmental and social objectives. As a first step towards filling this gap, the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative has prepared the Livestock, Environment and Trade Portal. The objective of this Portal is to provide policy and decision-makers with access to information on relevant livestock, environment and trade issues. >> more

Ranching-induced deforestation is one of the main causes of loss of some unique plant and animal species in the tropical rainforests of Central America and South America as well as carbon release in the atmosphere. Different sources demonstrate the evolution of livestock production and deforestation at the nation level, but their relation is known to be highly location dependant. To help decision-making address the problem it is therefore essential to dispose of a spatially specific information. As a first level of such information, as well as for targeting future activities, the LEAD programme seeks to identify “cattle ranching induced deforestation hot spots” through a spatial modelling approach. Furthermore, stepwise logistic regression results and outcomes from an expert consultation will describe the relationship between current land use changes and their “driving forces”. >> more

Pig production has expanded dramatically in recent years. A high pressure to environment has accompanied this increase. As major environmental impacts result from livestock excreta, special care has to be given to manure management. If there is plenty of manure management techniques available, they are often only known locally. Besides, the farmer or the decision maker most often insufficiently knows the economic, environmental and public health implications of these technical options. To fill this gap, the LEAD Initiative is preparing a Decision Support Tool (DST) on manure management to facilitate the identification, evaluation and selection of manure management options for confined pig production in rapidly growing economies. >> more

The concentration of animals and the related concentration of nutrients are the core factors of water, soil and air pollution related to livestock production. Spatial analyses based on nutrient balance calculations and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), allow to screen whole continents and predict areas where pollution of land and water is probable. Specifically, the "hotspot maps" display areas location where livestock is likely to be the main contributor to nutrient overload on crop land. Livestock distribution maps are also useful to give a clear overview on the spatial trends of global livestock densities for the main species : cattle, small ruminants, pigs and poultry. This information tool is intended for policy makers, planners, researchers and teachers, and is presented in Microsoft Powerpoint format for easy access and display. Meta data is also available. >> more

The Livestock and Environment Toolbox is an electronic decision support tool for policy makers, planers and project leaders, to enable them to assess interactions between livestock and the environment. It helps the decision makers to identify appropriate technology and policy interventions within the domain of animal production-environment interactions. >> more

The Nutrient Balance calculation program developed for the AWI project is an Excel-based tool to calculate the nutrient fluxes and balance for a farm or a region. Based on data on the livestock production and manure management technique (feeding, housing and manure storage systems etc.; especially pigs and poultry), the program calculates the nutrient excretion of the livestock as well as the amount and composition of different types of manure before and after storage and compares the nutrients and heavy metal content in manure with the nutrient demand and uptake of crop production. For routine and regional applications the model can be run with default values for standard conditions (only livestock numbers and crop surfaces must be entered) established by national or regional experts. For specific calculations all the relevant parameters can be adjusted to the specific conditions. >> more

Fossil Fuel in Livestock Systems is a predictive computer model to calculate direct and indirect consumption of fossil fuels for the various steps required for the production, processing, marketing and cooking of products of animal origin. The model includes separate routines for poultry (meat and eggs), swine, dairy, beef and sheep production. For each species, the entire production chain is included, the rationale being that even though the reproductive and growing phases may take place on different farms, all must be accounted for in the production system. The model can used to calculate fossil energy costs of animal products in various systems. >> more

The Virtual Centre provides access to a Digital Library that specialises on publications about livestock, environment and development interactions. Currently you can search for documents in English, French, Spanish and Russian using an English interface (more than 291 publications). >> more

The Livestock Development Planning System (LDPS2) is a computer based planning and training tool designed for livestock development planners. It aims at supporting decision-making in livestock development planning by helping to: identify and quantify the herd/flock composition and size required to meet the given demand of meat and milk; identify and quantify the feed and livestock constraints in meeting demand; and assess various livestock development programmes or projects on different scales (farm, watershed, region, country). >> more

The challenge for policy makers is to create the enabling environment that allows to best capture the contribution of livestock in development, by satisfying current and future human needs while safeguarding the natural resource base. The collective purpose of Livestock and Environment policy instruments is to provide feed back mechanisms for environmental damage and services to the originator. This should be done within the basic policy principles of LEAD, which recognize the environment as a scarce resource, and the need to apply the Polluter-Pays-Principle for negative externalities and the Provider-Gets-Principle for those that produce positive ones. >> more