Month: August 2024

Shared Table Newsletter

Excited to launch Shared Table LinkedIn Newsletter. First, what is Shared Table?

I’m a big believer in tables – they symbolize the vision we have at Elanco – Food & Companionship Enriching Life. From our pets under the table to the protein and dairy on the table – from meals to meetings, community and connection to crucial questions with colleagues, friends and family. There’s something incredibly powerful when we sit down, slow down – share a meal and get to know one another more. This monthly newsletter is going to more deeply explore Shared Table – conversations rooted in connection, leadership, purpose, animals and making life better.

Our first Shared Table conversation is more relevant than ever. The topic is in headlines every week and will really heat up this fall with United Nations Climate Week and COP 29 around the corner. I sat down with Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., Director, UC Davis CLEAR Center, Department of Animal Science – aka the Greenhouse Gas or GHG Guru. In fact, we were sitting at a table supported on two rather large hay bales in the UC Davis dairy research barn to talk about the next $1-2 billion animal health market – livestock sustainability.

If you read nothing else – remember this quote… “Reducing Methane, Reduces Warming”

Mitloehner talked about what led him to the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research – or CLEAR Center – at UC Davis. It aims to provide clear, science-based information about food production and its impact on the environment. He also highlighted the need for farmers to be more open about their work, as consumers are increasingly interested in how their food is produced.

Big takeaway… Climate neutral animal agriculture farms will happen this decade. The cow can be part of the how to reduce climate warming.

With this important framework in mind, the conversation shifted to livestock sustainability and the role of new technologies in this space like Bovaer, a first-in-class methane reducing feed ingredient for use in lactating dairy cattle, that recently completed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration review. The dairy world has an opportunity to continue their tradition of conservation and impact methane in a meaningful way. What excites me the most from this conversation is the clarity Mitloehner has around the path to climate neutral animal agriculture this decade. One of the greatest needs: new tools. We’re excited by the way Bovaer will be able to create value for farmers, for consumers and for the environment. With 500,000 cows already enrolled to track their footprint and the first CPG contracts in final stages, the dairy industry is about to take another big step toward their goal.

I will always remember this moment in our conversation… Carrot or the Stick? We can’t force change for it to be successful. Sustainability must be something that provides the right economic sustainability along with environmental sustainability.

Watch the full conversation here on YouTube.

Background 

CARE empowers poor and marginalized people to take action on the climate crisis and to build knowledge for global change. We know that climate change affects poor and marginalized people the most. Extinction means that people who rely on biodiversity for survival can no longer produce food. Extreme weather events destroy the shelters and homes of people who don’t have insurance or savings to rebuild. Women and girls face higher rates of sexual and economic abuse as their families face economic hardship.

CARE’s recent study with the Southern African Resilience Academy (SARA) and partners showed that food and livelihood programs need to integrate gender transformative approaches, climate adaptation, and resilience building, as well as systems strengthening, to support inclusive and sustained growth in communities vulnerable to climate change, conflict, and poverty. So, 3 years into our CARE’s Vision 2030 strategy, CARE examined how well we are integrating these factors – especially in geographic areas most vulnerable to climate change.

Triangulating data for research-inspired analysis 

We triangulated data from the three sources below, and based our analysis on the research findings and context:

1. CARE impact data. CARE’s Program Information and Impact Reporting System (PIIRS) records impact from every project implemented by CARE and/or partners, measured through indicators that correspond to SDGs and CARE’s Vision 2030 strategy. We analyzed impact data on livelihood recovery in humanitarian emergencies, food security, and climate resilience and adaptive capacities.

2. CARE program quality (PQ) data. We assessed the percent of programs that met minimum CARE PQ standards for gender, resilience building, and climate adaptation.

3. Climate vulnerability scores from the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaption Initiative (ND-GAIN) Country Index. This tool ranks countries based on their climate vulnerability and readiness to implement climate adaption solutions.

For the countries that we have a presence in, we plotted each country’s impact (from our identified relevant indicators) against the percent of projects that met the minimum PQ standards (for our identified relevant standards) in each country. This showed where our programming was impactful and tested our research finding that integration leads to higher impact. To go even deeper, we then looked at this relationship among the countries that have the highest ND-GAIN index climate vulnerability score, among countries that CARE has a presence in (Figure 1). We further used historical internal program data to examine these relationships and came to two major conclusions.

Our findings

Among countries that CARE works in, CARE is making an impact in some of the most highly climate vulnerable countries (Somalia, Chad, Niger, etc.) but there are opportunities to better integrate gender, resilience, and climate in these locations. Countries where we have higher integration and more reported impact tend to be countries like Ethiopia (not shown), Niger, Uganda, and Zimbabwe (not shown) where climate vulnerability capacity analyses (CVCA) have been applied for several years, where locally led adaptation approaches have been applied, and which have established and sustained institutional funding – in line with the conclusion from the SARA research that integration leads to impact and quality programming.Some countries highly vulnerable to climate change report no impact (Sierra Leone, Burundi, Sudan, Tonga) but that does not mean we are not doing important work there. Impact is measured in the long-term and often after a project is completed, so while this finding shows areas to ramp up programming, which we know how to do from the research findings, it also flags places where we are already working and should be prepared to measure impact later on.

Action resulting from the combination of analysis and research insights

This analysis is a prime example of using triangulation of data from various sources in combination with research-based evidence to inform programming.

As an organization, CARE is continuing to leverage our existing technical capacity in climate justice programming in Asia and MENA – regions that face climate vulnerability.

As a research community, we should continue to openly share data and methods to allow for analysis such as these. Additionally, we should share evidence-based research like the SARA paper, to inspire analysis and programs. We can also continue to embed gender in our research by assessing how gender affects outcomes such as climate vulnerability and readiness, and being critical of sources that do not include gender in analysis.

As a global community, we can deepen our investment in gender transformative approaches and climate adaptation for systems transformation. This analysis highlights the positive relationship between integrating gender, resilience and climate and impact, and shows that community-led approaches and strong institutional funding make for a bigger impact. Using this data – donors, programs, and policy makers can expand efforts in gender-inclusive strategies and climate adaptation.