Livestock in Pakistan: An Insight into Climate Changes and Impacts

Abstract

The global livestock sector is expanding at a faster rate than any other agricultural sub-sector. It employs approximately 1.3 billion people and accounts for approximately 40 % of global agricultural output. This industry is one of the most damaging sectors to the world's increasingly scarce water resources, contributing to water pollution from animal wastes, hormones, antibiotics, chemicals from tanneries, pesticides, and fertilizers used to spray feed crop. Climate change harms livestock productivity by changing ecosystem services i.e. water availability, forage quality and quantity, diseases outbreak, and animals stress due to heat shock and reduction of livestock diversity and breeds. Ecosystem and animal health are under the direct influence of climate change. The prevalence and dispersal of animal illnesses and pathogens are presently on the rise due to climate change. Climate change may have a significant impact on farm animal production performance around the world. Heat stress appears to be one of the intriguing environmental variables affecting animals, making animal production challenging in many geographical locations around the world. Intake of feed can decrease at high temperatures while energy demands increase due to the activation of thermoregulation mechanisms, which harms productivity, growth, and development. This is because thermoregulation mechanisms are activated when temperatures are high. The rate at which animals digest their food is impacted, subjected to heat stress, in addition to their rate of growth and development. The animal's heart rate, rectal temperature, and respiratory rate can all be increased during expose to environments with high temperatures.

Keywords

• animal health
• climate change
• food security
• heat stress
• livestock production.