Climate change is negatively impacting livestock production in Pakistan in several ways. Rising temperatures are reducing feed intake, body weight, and milk production in livestock. It is also hindering reproduction by decreasing fertility, sperm quality, and embryonic development. Changes in weather patterns are shortening winters and expanding summers, disrupting breeding seasons for some animals. Additionally, climate change is reducing forage quality and quantity, exacerbating water scarcity issues, and increasing disease spread. To mitigate these effects, the document recommends adopting high yielding animal breeds, conservation efforts, improved feeding strategies, and construction of water reservoirs.

1. Impact of climate change
on livestock production in
Pakistan
Prof. Dr. Sar Zamin Khan The
University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan

2. Climate Change
 Weather: It is the condition of an
atmosphere at a particular place over a short
period of time.
 Climate: It refers to the weather pattern,
using statistical data of a place over a long
enough period to yield meaningful averages.
 Climate change: A long term shift in
weather patterns in a specific region or
globally.

3. Causes of climate change
 Excessive release of green house gases (GHG).
 Deforestation
 Livestock production
 Overuse of fossil fuels
 Industrialization

4. Causes of climate change
Deforestation Industrialization

5. Causes of climate change
Livestock production Overuse of fossil fuel

6. Global warming

7. Causes of GHGs emission

8. Effects of climate change
 Rise in temperature
 Natural disasters
 Water scarcity
 Food insecurity

9. Effects of climate change
Rise in temperature

10. Effects of climate change
Natural disasters

11. Effects of climate change
Water scarcity

12. Effects of climate change
Food insecurity

13. Climate change and Pakistan
 Though Pak itself is not a major contributor of
GHG emission (<1%)
 Ranked 7th most vulnerable country affected by
climate changes.
 Cc in Pak has resulted in torrential rainfalls,
irregular floods, droughts and glacier melting etc.

14. Climate change and Pakistan

15. Impacts of cc in Pakistan
Impacts of cc are quite visible on
 Rise in temperature
 Natural disasters
 Water resources
 Biodiversity
 Forest
 Agriculture and livestock
 Health sector

17. Livestock sector in Pakistan
 56.3% of agriculture sector
 11.8% to National GDP
 More than 8 million people
associated with livestock

18. Livestock population of Pak.

19. Impacts of cc on livestock
Direct
health
growth
production
reproduction
Indirect
Pasture,
forage, crop
production
Heat stress
biodiversity
Diseases
&pests
Immune system

21. Effects on production
High temperature causes
 ↓ feed intake
 ↓body weight
 ↓ milk production

23. Mechanism of low milk
production

24. Effects on male reproduction
 Delayed puberty
 ↓ fertility
 ↓ sperm motility
 Impairment in sperm morphology

25.  ↑ sperm mortality
 ↓testosterone secretion

26. Effects of female reproduction
 Affects fertility and reproductive performance
 Hormonal imbalance ( decrease LH & E2
secretion)
 Reduce oocyte quality
 Reduce embryo development

27.  Delayed puberty
 ↓ duration and intensity of estrous
 Altered follicular development
 ↓ conception rate

28. Effects of female reproduction

29. Effects of female reproduction
Relationship between conception rate and THI
Badinga et al., 1985

30. Effects on embryo development
 Slow down fetus growth rate
 ↓ birth weight of calf
 Change in uterine endometrial secretion
 Retarded embryo growth in uterus results in dwarf
and stunted progeny with skeletal abnormalities.

31. Effects on embryo
development

32. Effects on pasture
 Cc affects the quality and quantity of forage
 Impede the productivity of grazing livestock
 Scarcity of water is a big
challenge to agriculture

33.  High intensity rainfall leads towards floods and
soil erosion which results in delaying of crop and
sowing of next crop, ultimately leads to poor crop
production

34. Effects on biodiversity
 There is strong relationship between effects of
climate change and habitat degradation that may
lead to the depletion of biodiversity at local,
regional and global levels.
 20-30% plants and animals are vulnerable if
temperature increases 2-3 C◦ above
preindustrial level (IPCC, 2014)

35.  4000 breeds of cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goat,
ass, horse, pig has lost.
 16% become instinct
 12% become rare
 20% of reported breeds are classified as at risk
(FAO)

36. Effect on diseases
 Changing weather patters broaden the range of
disease bearing vectors. (IPCC,2007)
 Onset of FMD is associated with rainfalls,
temperature and humidity variations.
 Incidence of clinical mastitis is higher in hot and
humid weather due to heat stress.

37.  Longer summer increases the number of
pathogens
 Minor winter increase the survivability of
pathogens
 Intensify the infestation of cattle ticks like
Boophilus microplus, Hyalomma anatolicum and
Heamaphysalis bispinosa.

39. Effects on poultry production

40. Shift in weather pattern in Pak.
Expanding summers and shrinking winters
 Previously summer season was from May-
August
 Now from April to early October

41.  Similarly winter season was from mid Oct
to mid Feb.
 Now from Nov. to Jan.
(Pakistan metrological department)

42. Breeding season & weather
shift
Pakistan lies in temperate zone where photoperiod
influences the seasonality of reproduction
 Change in reproduction timing has been observed
in sheep due to weather shift.
 Sheep, a seasonal polyestrous specie, bred in short
day (Oct-Nov) now exhibit estrous signs in Feb.
and parturate in Aug., where survival of the kid
becomes difficult due hot and humid weather and
non availability of green fodder.

43. Breeding cycle in sheep

44. Sheep breeding & photoperiod

45. Effects of livestock on climate
 The livestock sector is often associated with
negative environmental impacts such as GHGs
emission, land degradation, air and water
pollution, and biodiversity destruction
 The primary livestock GHG
emissions are CO2, CH4,
and N2O.

46. Globally livestock contribute
 44% of anthropogenic CH4
 53% of anthropogenic N2O
 5% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions

47. Effects of livestock on
climate

48. Mitigating climate change
PLANS AND STRATEGIES

49. Possible strategies
 High yielding animals
 Breed conservation and selective breeding
 Feeding
 Building water reservoirs

50. High yielding animals
 Rearing of high yielding animals
 It will reduce the stocking density
 It will reduce farm input cost
 Target production would be achieved with less
animals
 Ultimately less methane gas emission

51. Breed Conservation
 Conservation of indigenous Zebu cattle resistant
to high temperature
 Selective breeding of highly
productive and local thermal
resistant cattle

52. Feeding strategies
 Methane emission is directly related with quantity
of feed
 More feeding leads to more methane gas emission
 Replacing a proportion of green fodder with
concentrate will not only increase the productivity
but also reduce the methane gas emission

53. Water reservoirs
 Pakistan is facing very serious problems like
irrigation water shortage and less rainfall due
to climate change
 Water storage capacity of Pakistan is less than 30
days. While global standard is 120 days.
 Pakistan is estimated to be declared
a water scarce nation by 2025.

54.  Scarcity of water is a major threat to agriculture of
the country leading to food insecurity both for
humans and animals.
 Building water reservoirs is the need of the day.

55. Conclusion
 Climate change has become a grave concern of
the world
 Its impacts on world and specially on Pakistan are
quite evident
 Agriculture and livestock sector have been badly
affected by cc in Pakistan.
 As millions of people in the country are associated
with agriculture and livestock
 Therefore mitigation strategies and plans to fight
with cc should be made and executed on
emergency basis.

56. References
 Jordan, E. R. (2003). Effects of heat stress on
reproduction. Journal of Dairy Science, 86, E104-E114.
 Krishnan, G., Bagath, M., Pragna, P., Vidya, M. K., Aleena,
J., Archana, P. R., ... & Bhatta, R. (2017). Mitigation of the
Heat Stress Impact in Livestock Reproduction.
In Theriogenology. InTech.
 Qureshi, N. A., & Ali, Z. (2011). Climate change,
biodiversity Pakistan’s scenario. J. Anim. Plant Sci, 21(2
Suppl), 358-363.
 Rojas-Downing, M. M., Nejadhashemi, A. P., Harrigan, T.,
& Woznicki, S. A. (2017). Climate change and livestock:
Impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. Climate Risk
Management, 16, 145-163.

57.  Badinga, L., Collier, R. J., Thatcher, W. W., & Wilcox, C. J.
(1985). Effects of Climatic and Management Factors on
Conception Rate of Dairy Cattle in Subtropical
Environment1. Journal of Dairy Science, 68(1), 78-85.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_and_climate
 http://www.ecolife.com/define/climate-change.html
 http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.zoology.20120204.03.html
 http://www.thecattlesite.com/articles/1053/heat-stress-in-
dairy-cows-implications-and-nutritional-management

58. Thank you…..
Climate change does not respect border; it
does not respect who you are- rich and
poor, small and big; Therefore, this is what
we call global challenges, which require
global solidarity
-Ban Ki Moon-