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Was war das für ein Morgen? In vielen Teilen der Schweiz gab es einen besonders gefärbten Himmel. Der Grund: Saharastaub.

Die Schumacher-Familie sollte 15 Millionen Euro zahlen, um die Veröffentlichung privater Fotos im Darknet zu verhindern. Der Hauptangeklagte erhielt drei Jahre Gefängnis, während gegen zwei weitere Angeklagte noch verhandelt wird.

Le magnifique nouveau musée d’art ouest-africain (Mowaa) du Nigéria se retrouve au cœur des luttes de pouvoir locales.

Committee and political group meetings

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Das Schweizer Männer-Team holt an der Schiessport-WM in Kairo in einem Wettkampf gleich drei Medaillen. Die Frauen hingegen gehen leer aus.

Gescheiterte Gespräche am Verhandlungstisch mit den Baumeistern haben zu Bau-Demonstrationen im ganzen Land geführt. In Zürich findet die nationale Protest-Welle am Freitag ihren vorläufigen Höhepunkt.

Integration of crop-livestock systems in Urubici, State of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Credit: Ivan Cheremisin's/Unsplash

By Appolinaire Djikeng
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 14 2025 (IPS)

As the world gathers in Brazil for the UN climate talks, the country’s livestock sector – one of the largest in the world – is understandably in the spotlight.

Livestock are a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil (and around the world) and have been linked to deforestation, but these animals represent so much more than that to so many, especially in the Global South.

Brazil accounts for approximately 20 per cent of global beef exports. The livestock sector is a major contributor to the country’s economy – responsible for 8.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and roughly nine million jobs.

For 1.3 billion people worldwide, livestock is a lifeline: a protector of livelihoods, guardian of nutrition, cornerstone of tradition, and potential pathway out of poverty. For the majority and especially pastoralists, reducing herd sizes is not an easy, or frankly viable, option.

COP30 is supposed to bring people from vastly different contexts together, to find solutions that work for everyone, as well as funding to enable it to happen. This year’s host offers special lessons for Africa’s livestock sector, as Brazil’s livestock sector was not always so productive and efficient.

Brazilian policies and investments have seen livestock productivity rise 61 per cent in the past two decades, while pasture land use and emissions intensity – that is, the emissions per unit of meat, milk or eggs produced – have gone down.

The key to this success has been avoiding uniform prescriptions and instead adopting regionally adapted and context-specific approaches.

For example, high-yield tropical grasses like Brachiaria have become central to boosting productivity across the country’s Cerrado region, improving cattle health and overall performance, and reducing costs. In southern Brazil, where smaller farms are more common, the integration of crop-livestock systems have increased land efficiency, promoted biodiversity, and diversified farm incomes. Mineral supplements and high-energy feeds have had the biggest impact in the Southeast of Brazil, where there are large feedlots.

Much like Brazil thirty years ago, many of today’s developing countries struggle to produce meat, milk and eggs efficiently. Poor quality feed, animal health, and genetics mean animals take much longer to reach slaughter weight or milk volume. Even if herd sizes are smaller, the emissions per unit of product can be 16 times higher.

The impact is that hunger and poverty are prevalent in these countries and, in some, still rising. Micronutrient deficiency – a result of insufficient animal-source food consumption – is also widespread among children, which has a devastating effect on health and economic development (contributing to annual GDP losses up to 16 per cent).

This is why at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) we are researching science-based interventions that raise productivity and cut emissions intensity. For example, MaziwaPlus is an animal health-oriented project focused on Mastitis, a disease in dairy cows responsible for milk yield losses of up to 25 per cent. With Scotland’s Rural College we are also working on highly digestible forages, which could result in 20 per cent methane emissions reductions. EnviroCow is another productivity-oriented initiative, trying to identify livestock that remain productive despite environmental challenges.

And ILRI’s work does not stop at research. The Institute also connects evidence with policy and practice, as seen in Kenya’s recent submission to the UNFCCC’s Sharm el-Sheikh portal, which cites participatory rangeland management approaches developed by ILRI and partners.

Unlocking these benefits at the global level will require reframing the worldwide sustainability discussion around livestock – seeing it as a solution to be invested in, rather than a problem to be swept under the rug.

For example, climate finance should start rewarding reductions in emissions intensity (not just absolute emissions), so that countries improving productivity and lowering emissions per litre of milk or kilo of meat are supported. Moreover, the world needs to invest far more than the 0.2 per cent of climate finance currently put towards livestock research and innovation (and even less to developing solutions in low- and middle-income countries).

Most importantly, livestock should be embedded in national climate plans. Livestock should be recognised as more than a source of emissions, and as an important solution for climate resilience, food security, and adaptation – especially in developing countries and regions where they are the backbone of rural economies.

But as COP30 concludes, the conversation cannot end there.

This year’s conference must be a moment when the world recognises that livestock, managed well, are an important part of a more pragmatic global strategy which both protects the planet and raises the welfare of its people.

The timing could not be more fitting as next year will begin the UN-declared International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Rangelands cover over half of the Earth’s land surface, store vast amounts of carbon, and support hundreds of millions of pastoralist livestock keepers, yet barely feature in most national climate plans.

If we choose to recognise and act on the potential of rangelands and pastoralists, they can become one of the great success stories of climate and development – driven by science, stewardship, and local knowledge.

Professor Appolinaire Djikeng is the Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Ein schnelles und leckeres vegetarisches Gericht: Reisnudeln mit Gemüse und Erdnuss-Soja-Sauce. Das Rezept kombiniert knackiges Gemüse mit cremiger Sauce und ist in nur 30 Minuten zubereitet. Eine perfekte Option für ein gesundes Mittag- oder Abendessen.

Die neue Staffel des britischen Dschungelcamps startet diesen Sonntag. Ein TV-Insider enthüllte die Gagen der Teilnehmer. Doch wie schneiden sie im Vergleich zu jenen im deutschen Dschungelcamp ab?

Kai Trump, die Enkelin von Donald Trump, erlebte bei ihrem Debüt auf der LPGA-Tour eine Enttäuschung. Sie beendete den ersten Tag des Turniers The Annika in Florida als Letzte mit 83 Schlägen. Doch die 18-Jährige begründete die Niederlage auf ihre Weise.

DRAFT REPORT on the EU enlargement strategy
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Petras Auštrevičius

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The European Parliament has voted in favour of easing the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, or supply chain act, with a majority consisting mainly of conservatives and far-right groups, after a compromise between the European People's Party (EPP) and the Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens collapsed. Green and Social Democrat politicians accuse the EPP of "breaking the firewall". Commentators examine the vote and its consequences.

In the wake of the corruption scandal in Ukraine's energy sector, investigations into close associates of President Volodymyr Zelensky continue. The justice minister German Galushchenko and energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk have tendered their resignations. Commentators look at whether the country's control mechanisms and democracy are still functioning.