Healthy Animals, Healthy Planet

Emissions: Lower Livestock Disease Can Positively Impact Emissions

When examining the connection between livestock and emissions, disease management is a critical component of sustainability efforts. Modeling of global data by Oxford Analytica suggests that while sick animals are associated with increases in livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land use, animal vaccinations correlate to reductions in both.

Land Use: The Connection Between Animal Disease, Vaccination, & Land Use

Sick animals require more land. Global research has found significant associative relationships between disease levels, vaccination rates, and land use:

• When 20% of poultry globally are affected by disease each year, 8.6% more land is estimated to be necessary to maintain expected production levels.
• A 40% global vaccination rate for cattle in a given year is associated with a 5.2% reduction in land required for livestock production.

Economic Sustainability: Healthy Animals Mean Stronger Agriculture

Globally, at least 1.3 billion people rely on animal agriculture for their livelihood and food security. Livestock provides labor, nutrition, and economic growth. When livestock are lost to illness, the effects reverberate throughout communities. And when animals are kept healthy through vaccines, diagnostics, and parasiticides, the ripple effect can be positive.

Hunger: The Relationship Between Animal Disease & Human Hunger

Research indicates that higher rates of disease among livestock are associated with higher levels of undernourishment and food insecurity among the world’s population. For example, poultry disease was associated with a 2% increase in global hunger in 2018 and 5% in 2019. This is equivalent to global hunger increasing by 13.6 million people in 2018 and 34.39 million in 2019.

In contrast, vaccination among livestock is associated with lower levels of undernourishment and food insecurity.