Call for papers - Climate change and animal health and welfare: informing an action agenda

Guest Editors:
Colleen Duncan: Colorado State University, US
Chris Oura: The University of the West Indies-St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Craig Stephen: McEachran Institute, Canada

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 20 September 2024

BMC Veterinary Research invites submissions to our Collection on Climate change and animal health and welfare. The intent of this collection is to close the gap between intentions to protect animal health in the face of climate change and evidence-based action. Addressing climate change and promoting sustainable practices will help to mitigate the negative impacts on animal welfare and help us to ensure a sustainable future for both animals and humans, but there is a significant gap between good intentions and meaningful action.

New Content Item This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 13: Climate Action, 14: Life Below Water.

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Meet the Guest Editors

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Colleen Duncan: Colorado State University, US

Dr. Colleen Duncan is a veterinary professor at Colorado State University. Dual specialized in veterinary epidemiology (PhD, DACVPM) and anatomic pathology (DACVP), she works on a range of domestic and wild animals. Her current efforts are largely focused on the study of animal health impacts associated with climate change, the protection of health from environmental harms and identifying ways to minimize the environmental impact of veterinary care.

Chris Oura: The University of the West Indies-St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Chris Oura is a Professor of Veterinary Virology at the University of West Indies where he leads a One Health based research program concentrating on zoonotic and animal pathogens of importance within the Caribbean Region. His areas of research expertise are veterinary virology and infectious diseases, molecular diagnostics, virus discovery and evolution, molecular parasitology, vector-borne viral diseases, population genetics and molecular epidemiology. Chris is a member of the World Organization for Animal Health’s Biological Standards Commission and is leading a Climate Change and Health fellowship program serving the Caribbean region.

Craig Stephen: McEachran Institute, Canada

Dr. Craig Stephen is a veterinary epidemiologist who has devoted his career to developing ideas, people, policies and evidence to concurrently promote the health of people and animals and their shared environments. He uses population health and health promotion concepts on a wide set of conservation, global health, emerging threat and climate change issues. Craig has worked in public health and conservation organizations in academia and the non-profit sector. He currently leads the McEachran Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to future-readying animal health professionals. He has co-edited and co-authored the book Climate Change and Animal Health and is working in North America and the Caribbean to develop human capacity for health adaptation to climate change.

About the Collection

BMC Veterinary Research invites submissions to our Collection on Climate change and animal health and welfare. The intent of this collection is to close the gap between intentions to protect animal health in the face of climate change and evidence-based action. The impact of climate change poses significant challenges to the well-being of animals and has profound implications on their long-term health, behavior, and survival. Addressing climate change and promoting sustainable practices will help to mitigate the negative impacts on animal welfare and will help us to ensure a sustainable future for both animals and humans but there is a significant gap between good intentions and meaningful action.

Animal health stewardship in the 21st century means promoting a continuum of care that will prevent anticipated impacts, resist unanticipated impacts, and ensure recovery without persistent and irreversible harms. In support of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13: Climate Action and 14: Life Below Water, this Collection aims to bring together a body of work that presents innovative ideas to prevent and manage climate-related health issues in animals through evidence-based actionable strategies and policy.

We welcome original research articles, study protocols, narrative reviews, and opinion articles that explore a wide range of issues related to climate change and animal health. Papers involving wild, domestic, terrestrial, or aquatic animals are welcomed. Some of the areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Theme 1 – Adaptation and Resilience

• How to adjust biomedical, ecological, social, or economic systems in response to climate impacts on health and/or welfare
• What early warning signals are needed to promote timely and effective action
• Management practices to help cope with climate-related health risks and improve animal welfare
• Adapting to the impacts of recurring and overlapping climate-related disasters on the living conditions for animals
• How to manage multiple interacting impacts on health affected by climate change
• Evaluating the effectiveness of management practices in reducing climate change impacts on animals

Theme 2 – Mitigation

• Sustainable and ethical practices in livestock farming to minimize the environmental footprint and enhance animal welfare
• Mitigating climate impacts of veterinary practice
• Mitigating climate impacts of sectors other than livestock, such as, but not limited to, the pet trade and aquaculture

Theme 3 – Policy

• Global or national initiatives addressing animal health and climate change
• Methods for developing and/or evaluating evidence-based policy
• Roles for the private sector and NGOs to promote climate change adaptation and mitigation in regards to animal health
• Awareness-raising, evidence and advocacy needed to promote processes, practices, and policies leading to better adapted and resilient animals or animal health management systems
• Integrating animal health, public health and/or conservation policies and practices to achieve climate change multi-solving
• Research on decision making to translate policy goals into action

Image credit: chameleonseye

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Climate change and animal health and welfare: informing an action agenda" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.