Impacts of Climate Change on the Future of Livestock Production

Climate change and extreme climate events have dramatic impacts on natural environments. Changes in climate would increase the risk of unexpected disasters. A major driving factor of livestock dynamics in future appears to be climatic variability. The aim of this article was to discuss the main impacts of global climate change on agricultural livestock production systems and to offer some relevant mitigation and adaptation strategies to alleviate the current and future climate change influences on livestock sector. Decline in livestock performance, reduction in livestock feed resources, restricted livestock mobility, changes in distribution and severity of livestock diseases and health, changes in livestock species and breed, and fluctuations in livestock market prices are major impacts of global climate change on livestock sector. Mitigation and adaptation strategies including physical modification of livestock production units, genetic development and breeding, strengthening animal bio-capacity, enhance of livestock keepers‟ livelihood, adapting livestock production systems to heat stress, and livestock nutrition were introduced as major effective measures for alleviation of the influences of global climate change on livestock production. It can be concluded that the adverse impact of increased air temperature on livestock seems to be higher than other climatic drivers in future.

Keywords:

climate change , global warming , livestock production , adaptation and mitigation measures