Local Livestock for Empowerment of Rural People (LIFE)
The LIFE Network ("Local Livestock For Empowerment") is an action research and advocacy network of organizations and individuals who are concerned about the future of local livestock breeds, and about the people who rely on these animals for their livelihoods. Formed in 2000, the LIFE Network strengthens pastoralists and small-scale livestock keepers as central actors in biodiversity conservation. It believes in using local breeds as a basis for sustainable rural development. It supports production systems which benefit livestock keepers, their animals, biodiversity, the environment and the consumer. It promotes alternatives to factory farming.
LIFE Network GOALS
- Conserve livestock diversity in-situ, in their original environments.
- Empower livestock keepers who conserve biodiversity and involve them in national and international policy processes.
- Promote socially inclusive and ecologically sustainable livestock farming that is in tune with nature.
- Support the development of diverse products from local breeds through research, appropriate technologies, value addition and marketing.
- Strengthen rural income opportunities based on local breeds.
- Advocate holistic conservation approaches which preserve all components of biodiversity: wildlife, local livestock breeds or species, ecosystems and traditional wisdom.