On 15 July 2022 the World Federation for Animals (WFA) and the Animal Issues Thematic Cluster (AITC) hosted an online event for discussing the passing of a resolution on the nexus between animal welfare, sustainable development, and environment at the UN Environment Assembly in 2022.
The virtual conversation entitled “BUILDING BACK BETTER: Animal welfare, sustainable development, and environment nexus” took place on the margins of the High-level Political Forum 2022 on Sustainable Development and brought together representatives from governments, academia, intergovernmental processes, and civil society groups. It was organised with the International Coalition for Working Equids (ICWE) and moderated by journalist Urmi Goswami from The Economic Times.+
OIPA joined as listener the discussion focused on the essential role of the One Health approach* and how addressing the animal welfare nexus is essential to build back better and strengthen our collective ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This event explored how animal welfare supports sustainable development, specifically how improving animal welfare can tackle and mitigate the impacts of the triple environmental crises (biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution) and prevent the emergence of future pandemics.
* One Health stands for an integrative and systemic approach to health, grounded on the understanding that human health is closely linked to the healthiness of food, animals and the environment, and the healthy balance of their impact on the ecosystems they share, everywhere in the world. These interconnections and vulnerabilities were once more demonstrated by the CoVid-19 pandemic. This led the heads of FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH, who met in November 2020 at the Paris Peace Forum, to further enhance their cross-sectoral collaboration by creating a multidisciplinary One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) with the support of the governments of France and Germany (source: https://www.who.int/groups/one-health-high-level-expert-panel – https://www.who.int/news/item/01-12-2021-tripartite-and-unep-support-ohhlep-s-definition-of-one-health)
Comments of some speakers:
Mr. Damptey Bediako Asare, High Commissioner of the Republic of Ghana to the Republic of Kenya, declared: “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that the welfare of people depends entirely on the welfare of the ecosystem in which we live, and that increasingly the welfare of these ecosystems depends on our collective ability to protect them. Animals form a critical part of the ecosystem.”
Natalia Cediel-Becerra, veterinarian and a public health expert with, member of member of the One Health High-level Expert Panel stated: “”We need to change the way we relate with nature. We need to feed ourselves but we can do it in a different way, in a way that is not transgressive for the ecosystem and for us.”
Cleo Verkuijl, Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, “A sustainability agenda that does not consider the wellbeing of trillions of sentient beings, risks causing a tremendous amount of harm unnecessarily. Further, not considering animal welfare is a big missed opportunity, given the clear win-win opportunities that could benefit humans, animals, and the environment alike.”
Carmen Capriles, Global Facilitator for the Women’s Major Group for UNEA/UNEP, affirmed: “Let’s not let the UNEA’s nexus resolution just stand in the drawer and become another paper when we are losing the most beautiful thing that we have on this planet which is life.”
Read more about the UN Nexus Resolution
Read more about the One Health approach
Unveiling the Nexus: The interdependence of animal welfare, environment & sustainable development
– report of World Federation for Animals (WFA) –
