Issue 4, August 2006
People
and
Livestock
Inside
·
New ways to con-
trol diseases
needed 3
·
Biodiesel boom in
the South bless-
ing or curse? 3
·
Bellagio Brief on
livestock keepers'
rights 4
·
Pastoralists gath-
ering in Ethiopia 4
·
Publications 5
·
Coming up 6
·
Links 6
People and Livestock
is an occasional news-
letter for those interested
in promoting socially and
ecologically responsible
livestock development. It
is produced by the
League for Pastoral
Peoples and Endoge-
nous Livestock Devel-
opment with support
from Misereor.
Please send news and
contributions to Katrien
van't Hooft,
katrien.hooft@etcnl.nl
Editing: Evelyn Mathias,
evelyn@mamud.com
Design & layout:
Paul Mundy,
paul@mamud.com
The opinions expressed
do not necessarily reflect
those of Misereor.
league for
pastoral peoples and
Endogenous Livestock
Development
www.pastoralpeoples.org
Socially and ecologically responsible development
Focus: Industrial poultry monocultures cultivate
avian flu
Ilse Köhler-Rollefson and Evelyn Mathias
In late 2003, a new global threat started emerging in Asia: avian influenza. Although
not an entirely new disease, its causal agent an influenza virus of the H5N1 sub-
type suddenly became very aggressive, killing whole chicken flocks, spreading to
more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe and even attacking people. So
far 241 people have fallen ill and 141 of these have died.
The global response reflected the common arsenal of international veterinary dis-
ease control: trying to confine the disease spread and eliminate the virus by culling
all domestic birds in infected zones, restricting poultry movements, and other meas-
ures. In this way, over 200 million chickens have died or been destroyed because of
avian influenza alone in Asia.
In the often hysterical debate surrounding avian influenza, one crucial angle has not
been discussed. Virtually all countries in the South remain dependent on continuous
imports of grandparent or parent stock for their broiler and layer operations. These
imports come from a handful of companies in North America and Europe. Because
there are currently only about half a dozen primary poultry breeding businesses
globally, industrial chickens throughout the world belong to only a small number of
genetically uniform strains comparable to monocultures in plants.
Apart from Israel, hardly any country in the South has made the effort to develop a
genetically autonomous chicken industry. It would be challenging, expensive and
time-consuming to catch up with the genetic progress that had been made in the
North. The handful of companies that currently supply the whole world with grand-
parent stock for industrial poultry production zealously guard the genetic composi-
tion of their inbred lines. These lines are crossed to produce the grandparent stock.
This genetic information is a trade secret, like the formula of Coca Cola.
The grandparent stock are bred in secluded facilities that are hermetically sealed to
prevent exposure of these high-performance chicken strains to disease-causing
organisms.
Now imagine these birds being transferred into the crowded conditions of southern
China. In this part of the world, the avian influenza virus is endemic in the local
ducks, which have developed resistance against the virus and show no symptoms
of infection. Studies of blood samples suggest that even people have developed
antibodies to the H5N1 subtype. Under such conditions it is almost inevitable that
the virus is accidentally introduced into industrial chicken farms. The virus could find
no better conditions to multiply: among the genetically uniform, densely packed
Note to readers
This issue of the PaL Newsletter is the last to be published by the League for
Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development (LPP) alone. The
Endogenous Livestock Development network (of which LPP is a member) will be
responsible for future issues.
The next issue will focus on endogenous livestock development. Guest editors
will be Katrien van't Hooft and Getachew Gebru. Short contributions are very
welcome (maximum of 500 words). The editors reserve the right to edit contribu-
tions and adapt them to the style of the newsletter. We are also happy to include
announcements you may have, provided they are relevant to the focus of this
newsletter. Please send any information for the next issue to Katrien
(katrien.hooft@etcnl.nl).
The LIFE Initiative
www.lifeinitiative.net
People
and
Livestock
Issue 4, August 2006
Page 2 of 6
The deadliness of avian
flu is probably more due
to the genetic character-
istics of industrial chick-
ens than to the virus
itself
flocks, with no prior exposure to disease and no natural resistance, it can spread
rapidly and increase in virulence. The deadliness of the disease is probably more
due to the genetic characteristics of industrial chickens than to the virus itself.
History provides several examples of the calamities that can occur when isolated
populations are exposed to new pathogens to which they have had no chance to
develop resistance. Upon first contact with Europeans, Amazonian Indians rapidly
perished from common flu. When they first tried to colonize tropical Africa, Europe-
ans died in their thousands from diseases such as malaria diseases to which local
people had developed partial resistance. In the 19th century, the rinderpest virus,
introduced with cattle from Asia, wiped out almost the entire African cattle popula-
tion.
Disease mapping in Thailand shows that outbreaks of avian influenza in chickens
especially occurred in areas with many broilers, layer hens and grazing ducks. Ar-
eas where native chickens dominated remained mostly free of the disease. While
the low number of initial disease outbreaks reported in large commercial units
seems to speak against the causal involvement of the poultry industry, there are
indications that instead of reporting the outbreak, some industrial producers may
have sold their animals when animals started showing disease signs.
For more than a decade, FAO has drawn attention to the need to conserve domes-
tic animal diversity. One of the most frequently cited rationales for maintaining many
different animal and poultry breeds is the need to combat diseases.
With avian influenza, a pressing case for more genetic diversity and for integrating
traits for genetic disease resistance is staring us in the face. But the current interna-
tional and national control strategies go against this line of reasoning. Backyard
poultry and migratory birds have been accused as being the source of the problem.
Millions of birds belonging to smallholders have been culled. Valuable genetic di-
versity has been eliminated. But this culling spree has ignored the major role played
by the international poultry trade a role officially recognized only very recently.
The only long-term viable way to prevent further avian influenza outbreaks and pre-
vent the emergence of new diseases would be to discourage the establishment of
colonies of susceptible foreign birds in the middle of disease-prone areas. Doing so
would require countries to develop their own poultry breeding programmes. They
should build on their own local genetic resources, knowledge and institutions.
Rather than relying on highly bred but sensitive foreign birds, they should enable
their smallholder farmers and commercial poultry breeders to develop their own lo-
cal, hardy stock.
Sources
Butler, D. 2006. Yes, but will it jump? Nature News posted 11 January 2006
www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/pf/439124a_pf.html
FAO. 2006. Wild birds' role in HPAI crisis confirmed. But scientific conference fin-
gers poultry business. www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/
1000312/index.html (accessed 18 July 2006).
FAO & OIE. 2005. FAO Recommendations of the prevention, control and eradica-
tion of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Asia. FAO, Rome.
Gilbert, M., et al. 2006. Free-grazing ducks and highly pathogenic avian influenza,
Thailand. Emerging Infectious Diseases 12(2):227-234.
Grain. 2006. Fowl play: The poultry industry's central role in the bird flu crisis",
GRAIN Briefing. www.grain.org/front/?id=84 (accessed 18 July 2006).
WHO. 2006. Cumulative number of confirmed human cases of avian influenza
A/(H5N1) reported to WHO. www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/
country/cases_table_2006_08_23/en/ (accessed 24 Aug 2006)
More information: Ilse Köhler-Rollefson gorikr@t-online or Evelyn Mathias
evelyn@mamud.com
A pressing case for
more genetic diversity
and for integrating traits
for genetic disease re-
sistance is staring us in
the face
People
and
Livestock
Issue 4, August 2006
Page 3 of 6
Useful websites on avian influenza
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/diseases-
cards/special_avian.html. (The "Information resources" section includes a
list of paraprofessional guides in different languages on the prevention and
control of avian flu in small-scale poultry)
Network for Smallholder Poultry Development.
www.poultry.kvl.dk/Information_resources/Avian_influenza_updates.aspx.
Avian Flu Interdisciplinary Task Force: contact avianflu@kvl.dk
InterAction, American Council of Voluntary International Action,
www.interaction.org/disaster/avian
New ways to control diseases needed
Conventional ways to control zoonotic diseases are not enough to prevent out-
breaks. That is shown by the recent outbreaks of avian influenza and other epi-
demic animal diseases. New strategies are needed that take the effects of global-
ization, urbanization and burgeoning populations into account.
The "Manhattan Principles", developed by a conference in New York in 2004, list 12
recommendations for a more holistic approach to preventing epidemic and epizootic
diseases. They call for a recognition of the link between human, domestic animal
and wildlife health and ecosystem integrity; biodiversity conservation; the mainte-
nance of a healthy environment and functioning ecosystems; and investment in im-
proving human and animal health infrastructures, education and awareness raising
among the world's people (see www.oneworldonehealth.org/index.html).
For more on the interface between environmental conservation, wildlife, and live-
stock and human health, see:
·
Hammill, A., D. Giannikopoulos, and W. Karesh. 2006. SARS and avian in-
fluenza: Exploring the role of conservation and veterinary health in address-
ing zoonotic diseases in Asia. In Steele, P. et al. (eds) Poverty, Health, and
Ecosystems: Experience from Asia. World Conservation Union and Asian
Development Bank, pp. 95108, www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Poverty-
Health-Ecosystems/default.asp
·
Osofsky, S.A., et al. (eds). 2005. Conservation and development interven-
tions at the wildlife/livestock interface: Implications for wildlife, livestock and
human health. IUCN, Gland and Cambridge.
www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/pubs/AHEAD.htm
Biodiesel boom in the South blessing or curse?
Rising energy consumption and high oil prices have stimulated interest in new types
of fuels. "Biofuels" can be made from various crops, and are easily stored and
transported. They are considered climate-friendly, as carbon dioxide released when
biofuels are burned is reabsorbed when a new crop is grown.
Depending on the type of crop, however, large-scale biofuel production may use a
great deal of energy, offsetting the reduction in greenhouse gases. Furthermore,
where farmland is scarce, biofuel production competes with the cultivation of food
crops. This may reduce food security and harm poor farmers and consumers. If, as
in India, marginal and common areas such as village grazing grounds and biodiver-
sity reserves are used to produce biodiesel, unsustainable biofuel mono-cropping
will emerge. This will eliminate the sustainable land use that pastoralists and small-
holder livestock keepers have practised for centuries.
New disease control
strategies must take the
effects of globalization,
urbanization and bur-
geoning populations
into account
The expansion of bio-
fuel production puts
sustainable land use by
livestock keepers at risk
People
and
Livestock
Issue 4, August 2006
Page 4 of 6
The patenting of breed-
ing processes and indi-
vidual genes may re-
strict traditional rights to
breed, manage and use
livestock
To benefit the poor and be environmental friendly, biofuel development in the South
must be carefully managed. This will require studies to assess the energy and car-
bon balances, the long-term sustainability and impacts of the different biofuel crops,
the prioritization of locally available plant species and varieties, and the develop-
ment of small-scale decentralized production within sustainable agricultural systems
that meet the potentials and needs of small-scale farmers. Public sector involve-
ment is required to support these activities.
Sources
Sustainet. 2006. (in press). The biofuel hype: Chance or challenge for sustainable
agriculture? In: Sustainable agriculture: A pathway out of poverty for India's
rural poor? GTZ, Eschborn, Germany.
Hazell, P. and J. von Braun. 2006. Biofuels: A winwin approach that can serve the
poor. IFPRI Forum June 2006, pp. 89. www.ifpri.org/pubs/newsletters/
ifpriforum/IF200606.asp
Oudhia, P. 2004. Jatropha. Down to Earth (13)13. csestore.cse.org.in/fullprint.asp
Bellagio Brief on livestock keepers' rights
Members of civil society, government, inter-governmental organizations, research-
ers, livestock keepers and the private sector from 17 countries met in Bellagio, Italy,
from 27 March to 2 April 2006, to discuss issues related to livestock biodiversity,
indigenous knowledge and intellectual property rights.
The discussions highlighted that the livelihoods of pastoralists and smallholder
farmers are threatened by the progressive loss of grazing land for their animals,
limitations to mobility, inadequate or inappropriate government policies, and lack of
animal health and other services. These developments are also causing the pro-
gressive loss of the livestock breeds and species that provide rural livelihoods and
life-style options.
Alarmingly, the patenting of breeding processes and individual genes may restrict
the rights of the communities and individuals to breed, manage and use their live-
stock as they choose, thus posing a threat to the viability and continued develop-
ment of the breeds. For example, a broad patent claim recently filed by Monsanto in
160 countries would, if approved, restrict the rights of breeders to use commonly
practised breeding techniques for pigs.
The participants called for the recognition of livestock keepers' inherent rights to
continue to use and develop their own breeding stock and breeding practices. Na-
tional governments must recognize these rights, acknowledge livestock keepers'
contribution to national economies, and adapt their policies and legal frameworks
accordingly. This is particularly important to pre-empt attempts to use the intellec-
tual property system to obtain control over animal resources that are an important
component of the world's food supply.
More information: see www.pastoralpeoples.org/bellagio/ or contact Ilse Koehler-
Rollefson, info@pastoralpeoples.org
Pastoralists gathering in Yabello Rangelands in
Ethiopia
Ilse Köhler-Rollefson
On 1019 July 2006, about 300 pastoralists from 60 ethnic groups and 18 countries
met in the Borana Rangelands in southern Ethiopia. The meeting was organized by
the Pastoralist Communication Initiative of UN-OCHA. Participants identified and
discussed the following issues:
People
and
Livestock
Issue 4, August 2006
Page 5 of 6
·
What should be the relationship between government and customary insti-
tutions?
·
How can pastoral organizations organize themselves to be recognized?
What should be their activities?
·
How can pastoralists help reduce barriers to trade in livestock and their
products?
·
How to facilitate local pastoral products and encourage local ownership?
·
How to reduce the impact of droughts and other hazards?
·
How to improve local animal breeds and protect herders' rights to their ani-
mals' genetic resources?
Recommendations included:
·
Pastoral organizations should raise awareness among their members about
the value of indigenous breeds.
·
The formation of breeders' associations should be encouraged and sup-
ported through training and capacity-building.
·
There should be networking and information exchange about the value of
indigenous breeds and intellectual property rights issues.
·
Pastoral organizations should document the history and length of use of
their breeds, such as Red Maasai, Borana, Tuli, etc.
·
Pastoral advocacy groups should lobby on intellectual property rights issues
in relevant international forums, such as WIPO.
More information, contact ocha-eth@un.org
Pastoralists from 18
countries discussed
organization, network-
ing and intellectual
property rights
Publications
Cattle ranching and de-
forestation
FAO Livestock Policy Brief
3.
Over the past quarter cen-
tury, forests have been
cleared from an area the
size of India. Particularly
in Central and South
America, expansion of
pastures for livestock pro-
duction has been one of
the driving forces behind
this wholesale destruction.
www.fao.org/ag/
againfo/programmes/docu
ments/pol-briefs/default_
02en.htm
Gender and desertifica-
tion: Expanding roles
for women to restore
drylands
Gurung, J.D. et al. 2006.
IFAD, Rome.
This review examines the
impact of desertification
on women, their role in the
management of natural
resources and drylands,
and the constraints they
face. It presents the ex-
periences and lessons of
several IFAD-supported
programmes and projects
including livestock-related
activities.
www.ifad.org/pub/gender/
desert/gender_desert.pdf
Improving poverty re-
duction and conserva-
tion outcomes in the
grassland ecosystem of
Mongolia
In Steele, P., G. Oviedo
and D. McCauley (eds).
2006. Poverty, health, and
ecosystems: Experience
from Asia. World Conser-
vation Union and Asian
Development Bank, pp.
95108.
Discusses the livestock,
wildlife and human health
interface and argues that
economic development
and poverty reduction
programmes need to con-
sider adequately biodiver-
sity conservation and sus-
tainable natural resource
use.
www.adb.org/Documents/
Books/Poverty-Health-
Ecosystems/default.asp
Indigenous knowledge
inquiries - A methodolo-
gies manual for devel-
opment programmes
and projects
Sillitoe, P., P. Dixon and J.
Barr. 2004. ITDG Publish-
ing
The manual offers devel-
opment programme man-
agers and project leaders
approaches and tools for
the integration of indige-
nous knowledge in devel-
opment projects.
www.cplbookshop.com/co
ntents/C1587.htm
Analysis of methods for
efficient biodiversity
conservation with focus
on African cattle breeds
Reist-Marti, S.B. 2004.
Dissertation, Swiss Fed-
eral Institute of Technol-
ogy, Zurich
This study found that ef-
forts to conserve livestock
that involved breeders
were more likely to pre-
vent breed extinctions
than using cryoconserva-
tion of semen alone.
e-collection.ethbib.ethz.
ch/cgi-bin/show.pl?type=
diss&nr=15494
Herd movements: The
exchange of livestock
breeds between North
and South
Mathias, E., and P.
Mundy. 2005. League for
Pastoral Peoples and En-
dogenous Livestock De-
velopment
Analyses the global flows
of livestock and poultry
breeds between devel-
oped countries (especially
Germany) and the devel-
oping world.
www.pastoralpeoples.org/
docs/herdmovements.pdf
People
and
Livestock
Issue 4, August 2006
Page 6 of 6
Coming up
Focus on tools and
mechanisms in developing
future farm enterprises
and on policies and proc-
esses that scientists and
science policy makers
must set in place to en-
sure success.
www.livestockhorizons.
com
International workshop
on "The future of live-
stock genetic resources:
Under corporate control
or in the hands of farm-
ers and pastoralists"
Bonn, Germany, 16 Oct
2006
Addressing NGOs and
representatives of live-
stock-keeping communi-
ties, the workshop is a first
step to prepare civil soci-
ety activities around the
FAO International Techni-
cal Conference on Animal
Genetic Resources in In-
terlaken in Sep 2007 (see
below)
Contact: Susanne Gura,
susanne@
pastoralpeoples.org
www.pastoralpeoples.org
International Conference
on the Future of Trans-
humance Pastoralism
in W and C Africa
Abuja, Nigeria, 2024 Nov
2006
Focus on the pastoral
food and product chain:
strategies, dynamics, con-
flicts and interventions.
Contact Jerome Gefu,
jgefu@yahoo.com
First International Tech-
nical Conference on
Animal Genetic Re-
sources
Interlaken, Switzerland, 1
7 Sep 2007
An opportunity to agree on
how best to address priori-
ties for the sustainable
use, development and
conservation of animal
genetic resources, and to
raise awareness and ap-
preciation among stake-
holders and policy makers
about these resources.
Contact Irene Hoffmann,
irene.hoffmann@fao.org
www.fao.org/AG/againfo/
programmes/en/genetics/
angrvent2007.html
23rd World's Poultry
Congress (WPC2008)
Queensland, Australia, 29
Jun4 Jul 2008
Call for abstracts: Sep
2006
www.wpc2008.com
2nd EAAP Cattle Net-
work Workshop "Devel-
opment trends in small
cattle farms"
Antalya, Turkey, 15 Sep
2006 (in connection with
57th annual meeting of
the European Assoc. for
Animal Production)
Will discuss developments
in the dairy and beef sec-
tor from a global perspec-
tive; focus on SE Europe,
Caucasus, C Asia and the
Middle East.
Contact secretariat@
cattlenetwork.net
www.cattlenetwork.net/
antalya.htm
4th Horizons in livestock
sciences conference,
"Research for the farm
of the future"
Gold Coast, Queensland,
Australia 811 Oct 2006
EkoConnect: Interna-
tional Centre for Organic
Agriculture of Central
and Eastern Europe
EkoConnect supports in-
formation exchange on
organic agriculture includ-
ing animal husbandry.
www.ekoconnect.de (in
English, German, Russian
and 7 E European lan-
guages)
Links
Herbal folk remedies for
animal health in the
Netherlands
Database of Dutch herbal
folk remedies for animals
Hosted by the Dutch Insti-
tute for Ethnobotany and
Zoopharmacognosy in
Beek-Ubbergen, Nether-
lands
Contact Tedje van
Asseldonk, info@
ethnobotany.nl
www.ethnobotany.nl/
nieuwe_pagina_1.htm
AgricultureB2B.com
Directory of Agricultural
Websites and Agricultural
News
www.agricultureb2b.com
Indigenous Peoples'
Restoration Network
Web portal to resources
on traditional ecological
knowledge
Contact Sasha Alexander
sasha@ser.org
www.ser.org/iprn/
International Network
for Family Poultry De-
velopment
An information exchange
network to raise the pro-
ductivity of the family poul-
try sub-sector. Provides
advice and gathers data
on family poultry produc-
tion systems.
To subscribe to INFPD
Newsletter (twice yearly in
English, French and
Spanish), contact E.
Fallou Guèye,
efgueye@refer.sn
www.fao.org/ag/againfo/
subjects/en/infpd/