Abstract

As farm animal welfare becomes an increasingly important component of contemporary global livestock production, animal welfare science and animal welfare policy-making need to find new ways of entering global debates over food security and sustainability. In this paper, we explore the means by which both animal welfare science and policy should articulate with these emerging global debates. Having first established the important gains in animal welfare policy and the maturity of animal welfare science, we identify and explore the potential impact of these current debates and argue that they have the potential for profound change in our understanding of, and our response to, the welfare of animals. We conclude the paper with a number of possible recommendations for how a scientifically informed, sustainable animal welfare policy might flourish.

Keywords

farm animal welfare; sustainability; food security

Published in

Animals
2018, Volume: 8, number: 6, article number: 81

SLU Authors

• Blokhuis, Harry

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Keeling, Linda

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

Centre of Excellence in Animal Welfare Science


Sustainable Development Goals

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8060081

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95634