UNCCD Action Guides series introduces agroecological approaches and regenerative practices that make food production systems more sustainable and resilient. The strategies and actions presented in these Action Guides are evidence-based, proven to be effective, and can be adapted to diverse settings.

Each Action Guide focuses on key elements that influence the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of food production: soil, gender, tenure, youth, drought and water scarcity, livestock and pastoralism, among others. Collectively, the series offers a systems perspective to guide regenerative actions for both small and large producers to promote nature-positive transformation.

Meat and dairy are critical sources of protein and nutrients. Poor and vulnerable communities in developing countries source much of their food from extensive livestock production in rangelands, a relatively efficient way of using variable land and water resources. In contrast, the developed world eats factory farmed meat and dairy. Such farming is resource intensive, using imported feed and antibiotics which causes climate change and environmental pollution. Yet livestock can play a healthy role in sustainable food systems, by increasing efficiencies in resource use, adopting nature-positive practices, and scaling down industrial production – encouraged by a demand shift to plant-based diets.