Animal Welfare Impact Assessment in Development

Animal welfare impact assessment is an emerging policy tool that evaluates how development projects, trade agreements, and regulations affect animal welfare.

Key Facts

The EU requires welfare impact assessment for some agricultural policy changes under its Farm to Fork Strategy
Trade agreements that reduce welfare standards through competitive pressure have been identified as a welfare risk
Economic development projects including dam construction, road building, and deforestation affect wildlife welfare at landscape scale
The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) has developed animal welfare standards for international trade
Animal welfare NGOs have proposed mandatory welfare impact assessment as a condition for major infrastructure financing

Welfare Considerations

Animal welfare impact assessment would force explicit consideration of how policy decisions affect sentient beings before those decisions are made. Currently, welfare consequences of trade liberalization, infrastructure development, and agricultural policy changes are often invisible until harms are entrenched. Ex ante assessment could prevent large-scale preventable welfare harms across multiple sectors.

What You Can Do

Support campaigns for mandatory animal welfare impact assessment in trade agreements and development projects
Advocate for inclusion of animal welfare criteria in environmental impact assessment frameworks
Engage with WOAH animal welfare standard development processes as a civil society participant