West Africa provided the platform for discussion in deliberations on animal welfare this year. The 5th Africa Animal Welfare Conference – Action 2021 took place from November 1st to 3rd 2021 in Accra, Ghana. The conference which took place at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), brought together more than 564 delegates, of which 213 participated physically in Accra and 351 joined the proceedings via online Zoom link. Countries represented physically included Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, The Gambia, Morocco, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Through the engagement of several media channels, a post analysis of the closure of the four donkey abattoirs in the four-project areas was conducted. Community members highlighted an increase in donkey numbers and reduction in theft as well as illegal movement along the borders.

On its fifth run, the Africa Animal Welfare Conference (AAWC) continued to widen its target scope to include animal health and welfare practitioners, veterinarians, conservationists, the academia, civil society representatives, government officials, animal handlers, researchers, from across the continent. The conference convened more than 30 speakers from different countries whose presentations encapsulated the conference theme dubbed, “One Health, One Welfare - For a Better and Greener Tomorrow”.

This hybrid conference was formally opened by Hon. Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation of the Republic of Ghana. His Excellency ambassador Damptey Bediako Asare, The High Commissioner of Ghana to Kenya, delivered a special address. Mr Alexander Juras, Chief of the Civil Society Unit, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Prof. James Nkansah, Chair of ANAW’s Board and Dr Nick Nwankpa, Acting Director, African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), gave their remarks and welcomed delegates to the Conference. Mr Tennyson Williams, Regional Director for World Animal Protection, Africa, Ms Marianne Stele of Donkey Sanctuary and Mr Wolf Clifton Gordon of Animal people gave goodwill messages.

The conference was fruitful and productive; full of lively and informative discussion and topics that covered animal agriculture, livestock in wildlife trade, food security and safety, animal welfare standards, environmental health and climate change, social behave change, education and outreach, animal testing, sustainable development, One Health, One Welfare, animal and environmental law, animal welfare legislation, and the current Animal Welfare Strategy for Africa (AWSA).

The conference resolutions were well presented by Dr Mwenda Mbaka, an animal welfare expert attached to African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and Dr Dennis Bahati of Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW) at the conclusion of the conference.

The draft resolutions of the conference included:

1. To mitigate against the risk of pandemics, the African Union Commission (AUC) should develop a policy to desist from industrial agriculture.
2. To mitigate against the risk of pandemics, the AUC should develop policies that enhance the One Welfare approach in the use of animals
3. To enhance food safety in animal production, the AUC should develop and promote the compliance with a code of practise to safeguard animal welfare.
4. The AUC should generate a report on the status of wildlife trade in Africa pronouncing the economic, environmental, public health and social impact, from which it should develop strictly enforced policies and a code of practice in wildlife use and trade in Africa. The AUC should incorporate strict control of the transportation of wildlife
5. The AUC should develop policies that promote agro-ecology especially farming approaches that use ecologically fit animal and crop varieties as a mitigation against climate change. The AUC should develop policies and support the development of the infrastructure for coping with pandemics and climate change .
6. In response to the urgent need for transformative approaches to protect animals, planet and people, the AUC should develop and promote the inclusion of pro-animal, pro-planet, and pro-people protection content in the academic curricula from primary to tertiary level.
7. The AUC should adopt the operationalization of one health within the continent to help communities to thrive, promote animal welfare and safeguard the environment. The AUC should also develop strong and firm policies needed to tackle issues industrialised agriculture that incorporate key aspects of One Welfare and One Health. The AUC should champion discussions at the regional and continental platforms to meet the need to address the donkey skin trade. In the same breath, the AUC should also adopt key advocacy strategies in curtailing the slaughter and trade of donkeys within the African continent

Our sincere thanks to the following organizations that financially supported the conference, making it a great success: Animal People, Animal Welfare Institute, A Well-Fed World, ANAW-USA, Center for Animal Law Studies - Lewis & Clark Law School, Compassion in World Farming, Regis University, The Donkey Sanctuary, Welttierschutzstiftung (WTS) and World Animal Protection.