This summary was prepared by Hamed Kioumarsi, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Tropical Bio-Research and Nature Technologies at Palangka Raya University, Indonesia, and also an EBMS for Springer Nature.

Citation: Kioumarsi, H. (2026). Animal Nutrition in the Era of Climate Change: Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. Research Communities by Springer Nature. https://go.nature.com/4allxxj

Introduction

Climate change is widely recognized as a major global challenge, affecting areas such as agriculture, health, food security, biodiversity, and the economy. In addition, the livestock industry that contributes a lot to agriculture and economy is very sensitive to changes in the climate because changes in temperature, precipitation, droughts, and extreme weather conditions affect the performance of animals and decrease their nutrition. Therefore, animal nutrition plays an important role not only in combating climate change but in reducing its impact on the environment.

The issue of sustainable development receives increasing attention nowadays. Many goals related to sustainable development cannot be achieved without the involvement of livestock production. Nutrition of animals is considered important in achieving many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Climate Change and Its Impact on Animal Nutrition

There are many ways in which climate change impacts the nutrition of animals, but mainly it impacts their nutrition through changing the amount and quality of food. High temperatures and changes in the precipitation regime cause changes in crop production and pasture productivity. High temperatures negatively affect the growth of plants, change their chemical composition and make them more difficult to digest. Even though the increased amount of atmospheric CO2 causes an increase in the biomass of plants, it makes them low in protein and mineral content.

Climate change may also affect the nutrition of the animals directly through affecting their physiology. Heat stress reduces feed consumption, metabolism and immune response and makes it difficult for them to reproduce.

Changes in the environment caused by climatic conditions may lead to the increased number of diseases and parasites in the animals and thus change their nutrient needs. Under stress, animals usually have changed requirements for energy, protein, vitamins and mineral nutrients.

Nutritional Strategies for Climate Resilience

Nutritional interventions aimed at adaptation and mitigation efforts include precision nutrition. Through this strategy, animals are fed nutrients according to their individual needs, reducing nutrient wastage and improving efficiency in the use of feeds. Nutrient loss through excretion will also be reduced, hence lessening the pollution caused by nutrient excretions.

Innovation in the area of feed diversification increases resilience since it reduces the dependency of farms on traditional feed. The adoption of agro-industrial by-products, drought-tolerant forages, and locally sourced feed materials helps in coping with the effects of climate change.

Nutrition-based solutions that help reduce GHGs from livestock operations are becoming more attractive. Various research findings have demonstrated that the use of probiotics, enzymes, essential oils, tannins, and seaweed products helps reduce enteric methane from ruminants. Due to its effect on climate change, reducing enteric methane will be very useful in the efforts of mitigation.

The proper management of animal nutrition helps in animal health and welfare. Animals will be able to deal with heat stress and maintain high production levels by consuming feed rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Animal Nutrition and the Sustainable Development Goals

Nutrition of Animals impacts several SDGs through effects on food systems, environment, and socio-economic considerations:

- SDG 2 (Zero Hunger): Animals provide nutritious sources of proteins and micro-nutrients. Improved nutrition and feed efficiency lead to increased production of food while minimizing resource consumption.

- SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being): Nourished and healthy animals are more resistant to diseases and therefore produce safer and nutritious food.

- SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production): Efficient feed strategies and utilization of by-products in agriculture can contribute to sustainable circular economy with minimal wastage.

- SDG 13 (Climate Action): Nutrition practices that decrease emissions intensities, especially from methane and nitrous oxide, help mitigate climate change.

- SDG 15 (Life on Land): Sustainable feeding minimizes strain on land and contributes to maintenance of biodiversity and natural ecosystems.

Future Perspectives and Challenges

Even with developments in nutrition science, implementation of climate-smart feeding technologies has been inconsistent. The challenges include economic limitations, lack of technology, and inadequate extension services to help adopt such practices, particularly among smallholder farmers in poor countries.

Further research needs to focus on developing affordable and flexible approaches for livestock feeding. Integration of nutritional methods with genetic advancement, precision agriculture, and information and communications technologies will enhance resilience of livestock farming.

Conclusion

Nutrition of animals is becoming ever more crucial amid changing climatic conditions and sustainable development. Changing climatic conditions affect the availability of feed sources and performance of animals, necessitating the need to develop a nutritional strategy which maximizes productivity while minimizing the effects on the environment. Strategies such as precision feeding, diversified feeds, and reduction of methane gas from diets are some ways through which nutrition of livestock may be made sustainable.

References

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2017). Title of document. FAO Knowledge Repository. https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/476f6305-c66e-48a7-a1f1-cb955e639d0

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2017). Livestock solutions for climate change. FAO. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/0d178ab7-b755-4eb2-a6cd-05ba1db35819/content

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2021). Climate change 2021: The physical science basis: Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/

Kioumarsi, H., Naseri Harsini, R., Özbey, B. G., Rafiei, B., Alidoust Pahmedani, M., Shariman Yahaya, Z., & Rosen, M. A. (2026). Wildlife, biodiversity, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Synergizing conservation and development for a sustainable future. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 10(2), Article em0367. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/17816

Kioumarsi, H., Rosen, M. A., Rafiei, B., Shariman Yahaya, Z., Naseri Harsini, R., Amrulloh, H., & Gholipour Fereidouni, H. (2026). Global climate action toward net-zero emissions: Pathways, technologies, challenges, and future directions. European Journal of Sustainable Development Research, 10(3), Article em0407. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejosdr/18611

Taslimi, K., Jafarikhorshidi, K., Irani, M., & Kioumarsi, H. (2021). The effect of substitution of extruded soybean meal (ESM) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, immune responses, biochemical variables of blood, and nutrient digestibility of ileal in broiler chickens. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://sarpublication.com/articles/569/