4th OIE Global Conference On Animal Welfare

Since 6 till 8 December, the Fourth (4th) OIE World Conference on Animal Welfare had been hold in Guadalajara (Mexico). More than 450 speakers, delegates, OIE focal points, all the representatives of the competent authorities attended this important event, which had been organized by the World Organization for Animal Health, the Government of Mexico, through the Secretariat of Agriculture, livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), and the European Union. The academic and scientific world, the agro-zootechnic productive sectors and the most important international protectionist organizations from 150 Countries participated, as well.

The IZSAM, as the OIE Collaborating Centre on Veterinary Training, Epidemiology, Food Safety and Animal Welfare, Europe - Italy, attended the round table dedicated to emergency management. A very current and growing interest issue noticed by the representatives of the Member Countries and identified as one of the most problematic challenges among the OIE strategies for the promotion of Health, Animal Welfare and Public Health in worldwide.

The IZSAM, through the National Reference Centre for Urban Hygiene and Non-Epidemic Veterinary Emergencies (IUVENE), owing to the recent earthquake disaster in central Italy, aroused great interest in all participants. Thanks to those activities, which had been developed under the auspices of the Interregional Technical Coordination, the Italian Ministry of Health, the National Civil Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, as well as, the Veterinary Regional Services and the Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali of Lazio and Umbria and Marche and Toscana.

Following the most important topics presented by several speakers : the close relationship among Health, Animal Welfare and socio-economic development of local communities; environmental protection; the sustainability of livestock and agricultural food production; to implement the OIE animal welfare standards within diverse cultural context; a variety of tools and strategies are needed as well as balanced relationship with committed partners both from the veterinarian public and the private sectors. A very important topic, refers to the training and the professional update, in order to support the competitiveness of production systems and more and more increasingly the efficiency of Veterinary Services, in animal protection, public health and eco-systems, in a scenario called “one welfare”

The discussion on the implementation of the "animal-based" indicators according to the ISO rules, inside the international standards and the certification schemes of high value-added products, was very appreciated. As well as, the role of technology in the development of new assessment tools and monitoring animal welfare. All these elements are necessary to ensure enough flexibility, efficiency and sustainability of farming practices, animal transport and slaughter to improve organizations representing a group of business operators of the whole or of a part of the economic competition chain and to facilitate the dialogue among business operators, suppliers and customers, too.

Lastly, the OIE General Director, Monique Eliot, dedicated a special attention to a proposal of an OIE innovative global strategy on animal welfare, which will be submitted to the approval of the Member Countries during the next General Session, in May 2017.