The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is proud to announce the release of the new brochure for the FAO Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership. This comprehensive brochure underscores the pivotal role of livestock production in enhancing global food security, reducing poverty, and sustaining rural livelihoods. By fostering collaboration among governments, the private sector, and civil society and non-governmental organizations, FAO LEAP aims to accelerate sustainable development within the livestock sector.

Key highlights of the FAO LEAP brochure include:

• Global consensus on metrics: FAO LEAP builds global consensus on methodologies to assess the environmental impact of livestock, promoting standardized metrics, and fostering sustainable livestock production practices.
•  Science-based benchmarking: The partnership advances science-based benchmarking to measure the environmental footprint of livestock, addressing global trends, and contributing to a more sustainable sector.
• Collaborative multi-stakeholder approach: By encouraging dialogue among diverse stakeholders, FAO LEAP facilitates the adoption of harmonized approaches to tackle the complex challenges facing the livestock sector.
• Realizing tangible benefits: The FAO LEAP guidelines have been utilized globally, resulting in significant improvements such as better policy decisions, enhanced farmer participation in carbon trading, and rewards for producers' environmental performance.

This new brochure also highlights success stories worldwide, showcasing how various countries and organizations have implemented FAO LEAP guidelines to achieve notable environmental and economic benefits. Examples include Kenya's national greenhouse gas inventory system for livestock, New Zealand's robust inventory of soil carbon changes, and the European Union's Environmental Footprint scheme.

FAO invites governments, the private sector, civil society, and non-governmental organizations to join the FAO LEAP Partnership. By participating, stakeholders can contribute to developing guidelines, sharing best practices, and solving environmental challenges in the livestock industry, including greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency, and biodiversity conservation.

FAO LEAP is more than just a partnership. It is an opportunity to influence, innovate, and enact tangible changes in the sustainable transformation of global livestock systems.