Animal Welfare Science: The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness

The 2012 Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness marked a turning point in scientific recognition of animal sentience, explicitly stating that non-human animals possess the neurological substrates for conscious experience.

Key Facts

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness was signed in 2012 by a prominent group of neuroscientists, including Stephen Hawking as a witness
The declaration states that non-human animals possess the neurological substrates that generate consciousness
It explicitly includes mammals, birds, and many other creatures including octopuses in its scope
The declaration emerged from a conference on consciousness in human and non-human animals at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference
Prior to and following this declaration, scientific consensus has moved substantially toward recognizing widespread animal sentience
The UK officially recognized animal sentience in law through the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022
The EU also recognizes animal sentience in the Treaty of Lisbon (Article 13), requiring policy to give full regard to animal welfare
The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness (2024) extended recognition to include uncertainty about all animals and insects

Welfare Considerations

The Cambridge Declaration represents a landmark moment in which the scientific community explicitly acknowledged what animal welfare advocates had long argued - that consciousness is not unique to humans but is a biological feature shared across much of the animal kingdom. This scientific recognition carries profound implications for how we treat animals in farming, research, entertainment, and the wild. Legal recognition of sentience, as in the UK Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act, translates this science into policy obligations. The ongoing expansion of recognized sentience to include insects, crustaceans, and cephalopods continues to widen the circle of moral consideration consistent with the evidence.

What You Can Do

Familiarize yourself with the key scientific evidence for animal consciousness and sentience
Support policy reforms that legally recognize and protect the sentience of a wider range of animal species
Engage with public science communication that accurately represents the consensus on animal consciousness
Donate to research institutions advancing our understanding of consciousness and sentience across species