THEME THREE

Several factors are driving changes in the demand for food. Population growth has obvious impact on food demand and urbanization and income growth have considerable effect on patterns of food consumption and dietary makeup (Delgado, 2005; Steifield et al., 2006). Global food demand is projected to increase by between 60 and 110 per cent to 2050 (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012; Tilman et al., 2011). With an expected growth of the world population from 7.2 billion to 9.6 billion in 2050 (UNDP, 2013) and growing prosperity and urbanization, the demand for pork and eggs by 2030 will increase by 65-70%; demand for beef, dairy products and mutton will increase by 80-100%; and demand for poultry meat by 170% compared to consumption levels in 2000. The highest growth in total and per-capita consumption of animal-source foods is projected to occur in low and lower middle-income countries (Robinson and Pozzi 2011).
Despite the uncertainty as to how food demand will evolve in the future, the livestock production systems in general, and in developing countries in particular will of critical importance in helping to meet this demand. As an additional challenge the production response to meeting food demand has to occur in the face of changes in climate and climate variability. Production of food from animal is constrained by the effect of change in climate. Livestock production suffers due to extreme weather events that pose stress, fluctuating feed and pasture availability, quality and prices, impaired reproduction, and expansion of vector-borne disease related to climate change.
Despite its contribution to food demand, animal production is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide contributing to climate change. Depending on the accounting approaches and scope of emissions covered, estimates by various sources (IPCC, FAO, EPA or others) place livestock contribution to global anthropogenic GHG emissions at between 7 and 18 percent.

Meeting the growing demand for food, fiber and fuel is challenging in the face of changing climate, and less opportunities for expansion of range and grazing lands due to increasing demand for land use for other purposes and land degradation. Hence, maintaining and enhancing the productivity and resilience of animals with in the scenario of changing climate should be the focus area in order to reduce the trade-offs in productivity.
To meet the goals of increased food production under the changing climate, the knowledge gap on how producers (with focus on smallholders) might adapt to changes, enabling factors that may be required, such as capacity of animals to tolerate climate stressors and individual variability and methods or techniques that enable selection for adapted species/individuals should be identified, researched, noted and documented for practical use. The thematic areas listed below are identified with the aim to orient research activities to be addressed for enhancing climate smart sustainable livestock production.