The members of the new Bolivian Roundtable have been talking with Josefina Eisele, our Director for Latin America, for almost two years with the intention of joining GRSBs Roundtable Constituency. Almost one year ago, the Paraguayan Roundtable was invited to present on the benefits of having a roundtable in the country and their sustainability priorities.
The Bolivian Roundtable is formed by the main producers' associations, slaughterhouses, breeders and civil society organizations like WWF. The official launch took place during the local trade show known as FEGASACRUZ and there was a great reception from the entire sector. Josefina Eisele welcomed them and presented on the GRSB work, P&C and Global Goals for Bolivians to join in this global effort.
Last week, we hosted a call for members on the subject of the UN Food Systems Summit. It was good to hear that some of our members have been actively engaged. There have been a number of positive developments that have likely been the result of the continued engagement of livestock organisations representing the full range of species, sometimes in concert and sometimes acting independently.
I would particularly like to acknowledge the work done by Emerging Ag and Robynne Anderson who have helped the sector enormously through the coordination of a livestock sector group, that has enabled us to participate widely in a range of FSS forums. This group met with senior leadership of the summit and the action tracks earlier this year, and since then we have seen increased attention being paid to our concerns. A specific "game changing solution" that was aimed at a "just transition from livestock" has been moved from AT2 to AT3 and incorporated into the area of "sustainable livestock," which is very much more in line with our aspirations.
GRSB, the Global Dairy Platform, IMS, ILRI, the poultry sector, animal health and feed sectors and others all have a role in this sustainable livestock action area and the launch took place last week. There are still references to a transition, and the UNFSS seems predicated on the fact that crop production is automatically more sustainable than livestock, so there is still work to be done.
GRSB is also involved together with ILRI in the action area on restoring grasslands and savannahs, in which I know our members involved in regenerative management will be particularly keen to participate.
Within Action track 2 on sustainable consumption there is now also an action area entitled "Sustainable produce high quality protein for all" in which the livestock organisations are collaborating with the pulse and soybean sectors to emphasis the important complementarities between crops and livestock, and between nutrition from both in human diets.
On June 24th (25th for Australia and New Zealand), we will be hosting a webinar on animal-sourced foods'significance in both human diets and livelihoods. We will hear from Diana Rodgers, author of Sacred Cow, Shirley Tarawali, Assistant Director General of ILRI and Chair of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock, as well as from IICA. If you missed it last time, please click here to view this presentation by Professor Paul Moughan of the Riddet Institute in New Zealand, hosted by the Global Dairy Platfrom on 25th May on the role of animal sourced protein in dietary protein quality.
There are draft documents for all of these action areas; should you wish to review and comment on any of the action areas, please let me know and I can share material with you.
Closing Date for Voting on GRSB goals is 11th June! Please ensure that the person responsible within your organisation has voted!
