WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)
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Making Peace with Nature
Get PDFThe loss of intact global wilderness areas is leaving little productive land for wild animals. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in its Making Peace with Nature report identifies eight specific areas where transformative change is required. The report also identifies three levers that can be used to promote and implement these changes. The world has lost half of its forests and wild grasslands to the growth of crops and domestic animal grazing over the last century. This loss is driven largely by what we eat. Our diets need to be changed to achieve the transformation called for in Making Peace with Nature
An End to Cages in Europe?
Get PDFThe European Commission has promised the biggest animal welfare legal reform in history — a ban on almost all cages and crates across the European Union (EU). If enacted, the ban would cover more than 340M caged hens, rabbits, pigs, and other animals. It could also set a new global standard for farm animal welfare. A major fight now looms. This Monday, several EU governments told the Commission that its proposal was too ambitious, and requested extensions and loopholes. Europe’s powerful farm lobby, Copa and Cogeca, is already lobbying to weaken the measure. This presents advocates with a unique opportunity: over the next five years the EU will decide the fate of cages in Europe — and perhaps beyond. So what’s being considered, why is it happening, and how can advocates ensure it succeeds
Cat Management Successes
Get PDFThere are a number of communities that can report some success in managing outdoor cats even though there are no reports on such projects in the published academic literature. This report discusses successful projects managing outdoor cats on San Nicolas island, California, Alachua County, Florida, Portland, Oregon and Maui island in Hawaii
Why do Chapman & Huffman think humans are not different?
Get PDFThis commentary discusses various shortcomings in Chapman & Huffman’s (2018) denial of differences between human beings and animals and the ethical consequences they think turn on this. Rationality is proposed as a candidate for such a difference, one that also has acceptable ethical consequences
Forests and Livelihoods in Asia: Sustaining People and Planet
Get PDFSundarbans, the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest at the head of the Bay of Bengal, is home to many endangered wildlife species, including being home for around 100 Bengal tigers and to over 9 million people. Local communities are dependent on Bangladesh\u27s mangrove forests for their livelihoods
Farm Animals, Alternative Proteins, Economics & Sustainability
Get PDFInvestment interest in the alternative protein industry has exploded in the past two years but meat consumption also continues to rise and is projected to double by 2050. Switching to alternative protein sources would have a major positive impact on global sustainability but meat is still far cheaper. As the volume of alternative proteins consumed in the next decade increases, the price differential versus meat should shrink
South Africa Moves to End Captive Breeding of Wildlife. Some Thoughts from the Chinese Experience
Get PDFSouth Africa occupies an ecologically strategic position in the world. Like China, it has rich biodiversity and has been building its reputation as a favorite wildlife tourist destination. But it has also attracted its share of wildlife traders, poachers, and trophy hunters[1]. South Africa’s own policies had allowed the development of extensive captive breeding of wildlife and the commercialization of captive-bred lions, lion parts and derivatives and parts from other iconic species such as rhinos, leopards and elephants. These activities could not but help attract these people who engage in wildlife profiteering. However, on May 2 this year, South Africa’s Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment made public a High Level Panel (HLP) report officially recommending an ending of captive lion (and other large cats) breeding, signaling a reversal of the previous policy
Dog Homelessness and Development of WBI’s Global Dog Campaign
Get PDFThe development of the Global Dog Campaign to end the homelessness of around 300 million of 800 million dogs in the world is outlined. The campaign defines a homeless dog as one that spends most of its time on the streets but may receive some food and water from people but little or no veterinary care. While some countries have made considerable progress in ending dog homelessness, others have yet to start addressing the issue
Replacing Laboratory Animals in Safety Testing
Get PDFIn 1993, the NIH Revitalization Act included language, supported by corporations and animal advocates, that authorized a new program to develop and validate toxicity tests that would replace and reduce the use of laboratory animals. Seven years later, that 1993 Act led to the passage of the 2000 ICCVAM Authorization Act. This act established the Interagency Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) to facilitate the development and implementation of alternative methods that would replace or reduce the use of animals in safety testing and risk assessment. ICCVAM started slowly, but twenty-one years after its formal launch, it is now delivering significant progress in replacing animal tests
Animal sentience: history, science, and politics
Get PDFThis target article has three parts. The first briefly reviews the thinking about nonhuman animals’ sentience in the Western canon: what we might know about their capacity for feeling, leading up to Bentham’s famous question “can they suffer?” The second part sketches the modern development of animal welfare science and the role that animal-sentience considerations have played therein. The third part describes the launching, by Compassion in World Farming, of efforts to incorporate animal sentience language into public policy and regulations concerning human treatment of animals