Climate change is reshaping global livestock production systems and leading to increased research on the topic. However, science still faces the challenge of translating advances in knowledge into practical solutions for the field and public policy. This is one of the main conclusions of a study published in the journal Tropical Animal Health and Production by researchers from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at the University of São Paulo (ESALQ-USP) in Brazil.
The study analyzed 1,694 articles indexed in the Scopus database between 1974 and 2025. The results revealed an annual growth rate of 9.5% in research addressing climate change and animal production. Notably, 35.71% of the publications were the result of collaborations. The study also noted an increase in interdisciplinarity, methodological sophistication, and new agendas focused on sustainability, adaptation, resilience, and animal welfare. There has also been a growing use of digital tools, such as modeling and machine learning.
According to the authors, the long-term impact will depend on the ability to bridge the gap between scientific evidence and implementation through inclusive governance and regionalized solutions.
“After 2015, the discussion became more focused on resilience, sustainability, animal welfare, and One Health. That shift in cultural attitudes represents a change in both research perspectives and societal demands for a better quality of life. That’s when we began to realize that the biggest gap is precisely the one between science and practice when it comes to implementing that process in the field. It isn’t enough to simply develop technology. We have to transform it into evidence-based practices and implementation, which involves public policies and small-scale producers’ access to those new production systems,” Iran José Oliveira da Silva , a professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at ESALQ-USP and one of the coordinators of the study, explains to Agência FAPESP .
As head of the Environmental Research Center ( NUPEA ), Silva advises animal scientist Robson Mateus Freitas Silveira , who is also from ESALQ and is the first author of the article.
“We wanted to understand how science has evolved. I believe the progress since 2015 is related to the 2030 Agenda, which changed researchers’ perspectives and encouraged them to incorporate the SDGs [ Sustainable Development Goals ] into their projects,” adds Silveira, who receives support from FAPESP through a postdoctoral fellowship .
According to the animal scientist, a literature review shows that this field of study is in its early stages, with potential for new agendas, methods, and hypotheses. There is also the prospect that scientific output will continue to grow in the coming years.
An integrated approach
For Silveira, interdisciplinarity is one of the recent advances. “In the 1990s, studies dealt with topics such as heat stress. Today, they include a focus on adaptation and assessing the resilience of animal species in response to new climate conditions,” states the scientist. During his doctoral research, he developed a methodology that projects how herds of different livestock species will respond physiologically to the impacts of climate change between 2050 and 2100 ( read more at agencia.fapesp.br/56012 ).
During the thematic analysis, the scientists discovered that research on greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts is well-established. However, emerging areas, such as climate-smart agriculture (CSA), One Health, and integrated sustainability frameworks, remain less connected to applied research and public policy.
These concepts are being developed and call for integrated approaches. Climate-smart agriculture comprises agricultural practices and technologies that combat food insecurity and promote sustainable development through landscape management, including agricultural lands, livestock, forests, and fisheries, while addressing climate change.
One Health, on the other hand, is an integrated concept that recognizes the interdependence between human health, animal health, and the environment. It seeks multidisciplinary strategies to combat threats such as zoonoses, antibiotic resistance, and global warming.
Local realities
Climate change is a major driver of transformation in production systems and impacts agricultural production, which also drives climate change. The global agri-food system is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the primary source of methane emissions through livestock production and consumes a significant percentage of the planet’s freshwater, mainly through irrigation.
As the global population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, the United Nations (UN) estimates that the increased demand for food will continue to put pressure on the environment through land-use changes, such as the conversion of forests to pastures or arable land, and increased carbon emissions.
“We believe that an important path forward is to strengthen regionalized and inclusive research, even seeking collaborative approaches with smallholder farmers, with an eye toward public policy, while valuing regional realities and databases,” says Silva. “Using global databases and applying them to a specific region may not reflect the reality of that country or area. When we work with regionalized information, we begin to be more precise.”
The findings of the study reveal that, although the scientific literature increasingly proposes technological, genetic, and management-based solutions, adoption remains uneven across countries, especially in the most vulnerable ones. Structural, economic, and institutional limitations hinder this adoption in these countries. Furthermore, there are geographic disparities in scientific output, with countries in the Global South – particularly those in Africa – being underrepresented.
The study suggests prioritizing regionalization and the integration of socioeconomic and cultural approaches, as well as practical implementation strategies that bridge environmental, social, and animal sciences in future research.
As part of his postdoctoral research, Silveira is collaborating with researchers from other Brazilian regions to understand the impact of climate change on poultry and swine production by 2100. His goal is to identify and develop more sustainable production strategies for these species that are better suited to the realities of regions such as Midwest and Northeast Brazil under different scenarios.
About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe
Tropical Animal Health and Production
Animal production under climate change: a global scientometric analysis of research structure, thematic evolution, and knowledge gaps
28-May-2026