Animal welfare science, policy, and advocacy are evolving rapidly. Understanding emerging opportunities and challenges helps advocates and researchers focus on the most impactful areas for the future.
The future of animal welfare contains genuine reasons for optimism alongside significant challenges. On the opportunity side: alternative protein technologies could transform animal use in food systems more rapidly than any regulatory reform. Precision monitoring technologies increasingly allow individual animal welfare to be tracked at scale. Public concern for animal welfare in high-income countries continues to grow. International trade mechanisms are beginning to export welfare standards beyond national borders. On the challenge side: global population growth and income increases in lower-income countries are expanding animal product consumption faster than welfare standards can improve. Climate change is creating new welfare challenges for wild and domestic animals. The expanding recognition of sentience in previously unrecognized groups creates new welfare obligations that existing frameworks are not designed to address. The welfare field that will succeed in improving animal lives is one that engages strategically with both opportunities and challenges.