Animal-source foods—such as meat, poultry, fish, and dairy—are important components of diverse diets and provide high-quality proteins and other essential nutrients that promote optimal growth and development. As populations and incomes grow, the global demand for animal-source foods is projected to increase substantially, particularly in many low- and middle-income countries.

However, livestock production is highly resource intensive and has significant environmental impacts, requiring considerable land, water, and energy inputs. Global food production is responsible for roughly one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, most of which are related to livestock. Livestock production is also a contributor to water pollution, land degradation, overfishing, and antimicrobial resistance and an important source of zoonotic disease. Given these challenges, sustainable, high-quality alternatives to protein from livestock have the potential for significant transformative impact for both people and the planet.

This project explores the potential for alternative proteins—with a focus on dairy and eggs—in emerging markets with four distinctive workstreams:

1. Market landscape assessment and market analysis for alterantive proteins.
2. Assessment of the enabling environment for alternative proteins
3. Modeling of the agricultural, environmental, health and nutrition impacts of alternative proteins
4. Assessing the potential for alternative protein production to generate carbon offsets.

This program is implemented under the umbrella of the CGIAR  Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)