Climate change: Production performance, health issues, greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation strategies in sheep and goat farming

Climate change is transforming the planet’s ecosystem and threatening the well-being of current and
future generations. The livestock sector plays an important role in climate change contributing with a
significant share to the anthropogenic greenhouses gases (GHG) emissions. In particular, small ruminant
farming plays a crucial socio-economic role in many countries and there is strong interest in measuring
and improving environmental performance and production. This review provides an integrated overview
on the effect of climate change on small ruminant production and health. Measurement and prediction
of sheep and goat emissions and opportunities to mitigate GHG emissions from small ruminants are
also discussed. The relationships among climate change, small ruminant production and health and GHG
emissions are highlighted using the system thinking of analysis.