A Synopsis of the 2024 International Summit on Societal Role of Meat and Livestock
By: Don Mulvaney
Members of the ASAS Public Policy Committee attended the Societal Role of Meat and Livestock - Denver Summit 2024. The following brief highlights the purpose, activities, significance, and proposed outcomes of the summit.
A scientific follow-up to the International Summit on the Societal Role of Meat held in 2022 (published in Animal Frontiers), the 2024 International Summit on Societal Role of Meat and Livestock was held in Denver and aimed to address critical intersections between meat production, global nutrition, environmental sustainability, social values and how to more effectively communicate peer-reviewed research data within Animal Sciences. Organized against the backdrop of growing debates on the ecological and health impacts of animal-based foods, this Denver summit sought to amplify evidence-based discourse on meat and livestock’s role in society. Key stakeholders included policymakers, scientists, industry leaders, and media representatives who were urged to pursue policies aligned closely with scientific evidence rather than politically or ideologically driven narratives.
The summit, attended by international leaders from public administration, agriculture, industry, and academia, was organized around a theme of the Denver Call for Action. This initiative underscored the urgency for collaborative action to advance science-driven insights on meat’s important contributions to human nutrition, economy, and ecology. The agenda featured dozens of keynote presentations from leading scientists from around the world as well as discussion panels focused on scientific and ethical considerations within livestock production, drawing from the Dublin Declaration’s emphasis on honest, transparent science in policy development. Interactive sessions allowed stakeholders to engage, explore and discuss topics such as food security, technological advancements, ecological impacts, and effective communication strategies. Multiple manuscripts based on the presentations ranging from shared research on dietary guidelines, food security risks, environmental stewardship, animal wellness, genetic technologies, and more are in review and will be published February 2025 in a special Issue of Animal Frontiers.
The Denver Summit is a significant milestone for animal agriculture and modern society as it highlighted the growing “scientification” of public policy and the need for clear delineation between scientific evidence and societal values, a challenge amplified by conflicting global narratives on livestock’s role in sustainable food systems. Of particular interest is how the summit underscored:
- Importance of Science-Driven Policy Making: Urging policymakers to base decisions on comprehensive, validated scientific data to maintain public trust and support sustainable agricultural practices.
- Nutritional and Environmental Balance: Research presentations critiqued multiple restrictive dietary models, such as the EAT-Lancet diet, for oversimplifying complex social and ecological issues and emphasized the need to integrate nutrient-dense animal foods to ensure global food security.
- Ethical and Responsible Technological Integration: With discussions on the use of AI, gene editing, and sustainable grazing techniques, the summit proposed a responsible approach to innovation, balancing efficiency with ethical concerns.
The Denver Call for Action concluded with actionable commitments to support a balanced, science-based dialogue on the role of livestock in society. Among some of the Future Initiatives were the following:
- Enhanced Outreach and Communication of our Science: Scientists and producers were encouraged to engage the public with transparent information to foster informed societal decisions and combat misinformation.
- Increase Collaborative Research and Development: Plans to further integrate AI, genetic selection, and ecological strategies in livestock management practices were discussed as pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve animal welfare, and sustain nutrient-dense food supplies.
- Policy Recommendations and Partnerships: The summit endorsed ongoing dialogue and partnerships across sectors to align global dietary recommendations with the latest scientific findings, ensuring they respect cultural diversity and country specific food sovereignty.
As elegantly stated in the program materials, “In this Denver Call for Action, policy makers, media professionals, and business leaders around the world are urged to not only act, and urgently so, but also to align their action more closely with the scientific evidence: We observe how the Dublin Declaration has raised the voice of the earnest scientific community and has emboldened scientists around the world to speak up to policy and to the public on behalf of the scientific evidence.... We encourage policy makers to listen carefully to those scientific commissions where the totality of the evidence is presented, outlining what is known and what is not known. Where the function of scientists is to challenge each other through the application of the scientific method, and with respect and openness. Policy makers that take responsibility for their choices based on such kind of scientific discourse are gaining the trust of their electorates in the objectivity of their decisions. Including and engaging with the broader views that exist within reality makes policies robust and impactful in driving positive outcomes that are better for people, animals, and the environment." (Denver CaII for Action, 2025).
The Denver Summit encouraged open, frank, and transparent dialogue among the international audience about what the science says about the role of livestock and meat production in a global society. In doing so, it set an exciting foundation for advancing sustainable meat and livestock systems while advocating for pragmatic approaches to policymaking.
Be on the lookout for the forthcoming (February, 2025) publication of the topics presented at the Denver Summit.
