e-591 (International development and aid)

Petition to the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie

• 800 million livestock keepers live on less than $2 a day and are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and disasters which injure and kill their animals;
• Two-thirds of poor livestock keepers are women;
• Livestock are an important source of income that women can access to support their children’s health and education;
• Post-disaster, livestock provide economic and food security vastly improving families’ ability to recover and attain self-sufficiency;
• Livestock plays a critical role in sustainable agriculture and reducing the impact of disasters yet they are not explicitly included in Canada’s international assistance policies or funding criteria;
• Canadian aid for agriculture has fallen by 25% since 2011, less than 1% is spent on disaster preparedness and prevention and little to no funding is directed towards protecting livestock during disasters;
• Research demonstrates that investing in livestock protection generates significant economic benefits for the community; and
• It would also strengthen food security, nutrition, gender equality, livelihoods and sustainable economic growth. This would help Canada fulfill its commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.