APA – Lusaka (Zambia) Factory farming is set to surge in the Global South, driven by an expected 30% rise in meat demand in Africa according to a new report released Tuesday by the UN-based World Animal Protection.
The outcomes from the report released ahead of the global climate summit (COP28) which is set to quick off this week in Dubai confirms for the first time that animal cruelty and climate change are interlinked with major impacts being recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Factory farming not only causes suffering to billions of animals and the destruction of wild habitats (…) it is undermining food security for communities around the world,” said Steve McIvor, World Animal Protection CEO.
It said that a resource-intensive business, factory farming releases a large proportion of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, worsening heat waves, wildfires, floods and droughts.
Official projections show that African countries will have to spend US$53 billion annually by 2030 to adapt to the climate crisis, the report details.
To address their significant culpability in climate change, World Animal Protection is calling for governments at COP28 to impose a 10-year moratorium on new factory farm approvals and halt this flawed food system’s rapid global expansion.
Kelly Dent, World Animal Protection’s Global Director of External Engagement, pointed out that world leaders must act meaningfully at COP28.
“The factory farming industry must be held accountable by governments and finance must be directed to the Global South communities on the front line of climate change, ” Dent said.
CU/abj/APA