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The interactions between livestock and the environment are many and complex - a challenge for policy makers who have social and economic factors to consider which are likely to be far more pressing and politically sensitive. Putting the environment into the forefront does not mean that only environmental objectives count. On the contrary, environmental goals can only be effectively tackled if accompanied by sound economic policies.
Measures that tackle only the superficial effects of environmental damage will never he as effective as a policy which attacks the underlying causes. Those causes are often deeply entrenched in what has become an almost universal fact: those who gain benefits from over-exploitation and degradation of the environment have not paid the full cost. Those who preserve natural resources, or who pay the cost of conservation, gain few of the benefits. How can this he reversed? By making sure that the price of livestock products has not been artificially subsidized by ignoring the environmental costs incurred in its production. This difficult task will fall to policy makers who, by a combination of reducing subsidies and imposing taxes and regulations, will have to encourage the use of environmentally-friendly livestock production technologies. They will be confronted by powerful interest lobbies, not least consumers who may well be reluctant to pay more for animal products in the shops in order to protect an environment in which they take little interest. And strategies might differ according to the stage of development of a country. Lower income countries, for whom increased food production is the over-riding priority, cannot be expected to impose regulations and tax in a way that richer countries could afford. Still, with better information, the public is more likely to be sympathetic to environmental concerns.
The technological opportunities, and therefore the scope, for increasing livestock production, while simultaneously reducing the use of natural resources per unit of product, is enormous. What is required is a willingness to safeguard the natural resource base, and then introduce the necessary policies and institutions which will encourage the use of those technologies.
