ABSTRACT
That human-induced climate change will result in a reconfiguration of livestock production systems and their social, economic, and environmental effects over coming decades is beyond doubt. Increasing climatic variability and more pronounced climatic extremes will alter existing systems of livestock management as farmers and pastoralists learn to adapt to the changing accessibility of water and feed and occurrence of disease. In the process, political relationships and human–environment interactions will change and adapt to these new patterns as well. Because the provision of meat and milk products from livestock has become a globalized activity, these changes will reverberate beyond the local contexts of adaptation; responses in one region of the globe will inevitably impact practices elsewhere.
