Region :

Asia and the Pacific

WAHIS Codes and Manuals Search
Disease Alerts Codes et manuals Search

Animal welfare symposium: Disaster response and WOAH animal welfare standards

Header

Given Japan’s susceptibility to numerous natural disasters, the “One Welfare” concept underscores the importance of addressing both human and animal needs during evacuation and handling. Although the welfare of pets and their owners has increasingly been considered by policymakers in Japan, the welfare of livestock in disaster situations has not received significant attention.

WOAH was invited to speak at a hybrid symposium organised by the Japanese Association of Animal Welfare Science on 6 April 2025 at the Nippon Veterinary and Live Science University, Tokyo, Japan.

The symposium focused on “Livestock and natural disaster response” (産業動物と災害時対応).

Speakers included:

Dr Aki Tanaka, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University

“Introduction to disaster response”

  • Highlighted significance of animal welfare during disasters on human safety and health and the importance of peace time preparedness
  • Introduced important aspects of veterinary disaster response including disaster veterinary medicine, preparedness and response cycle, All Hazards Approach and Incident Command System

Mr Hikaru Nakano, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan

“Japan’s response during disasters”

  • Introduced recent examples of response activities during natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons
  • Introduced a Business Continuation Plan (BCP) for the agriculture sector as part of risk management and shared their efforts to encourage farmers to develop their own BCP using checklists
  • Introduced MAFF’s support e.g., MAFF-SAT (MAFF support and advice team), technical guidance to prefectural governments in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment considering animal welfare regarding risks such as heavy rain, heatwaves

A slide from Dr Kugita's presentation on WOAH guidelines for natural disasters and animals.

Dr Hirofumi Kugita, WOAH Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific

“The role of WOAH and disaster response in the context of WOAH animal welfare standards”

  • Introduced WOAH and WOAH standards related to animal welfare
  • Presentation: PDF

A slide from Dr Dalla Villa's presentation showing facts on animal welfare and natural disasters.

Dr Paolo Dalla Villa, WOAH Standards Department

  • Outlined ongoing efforts for the integration of an animal welfare component into disaster management operational frameworks at the European level, including initiatives of the WOAH Regional Commission for Europe
  • Shared experience on the development of a WOAH Platform on Animal Welfare for Europe
  • Emphasised how crucial it is for first responders to increase competency and capability to efficiently support veterinary response actions, and introduced triage training tools
  • Stressed importance to invest in preparedness and intersectoral collaboration throughout the whole disaster management cycle, including in “peace time”
  • Presentation: PDF, recording (with Japanese or English subtitles)
Forme

Veterinary Services should maintain a proactive attitude toward contingency planning

to be aligned with the need to coordinate crisis management efforts and mitigate the impact of disasters with a One Health perspective.

Also shown was a video report, “Philippines: the impact of emergencies on animal health”, developed by WOAH to show the impact that extreme emergency events can have on animal health. The video report shows a powerful example – a volcanic eruption – of how emergencies can have severe cascading effects on our interdependent ecosystems, affecting animal and human health, food systems, livelihoods and economies.

Watch the video: Available with Japanese or English (also see below) subtitles

Philippines: the impact of emergencies on animal health

A panel discussion included the following topics:

  • Need for interministerial collaboration among MAFF (livestock matters), Ministry of Environment (pet related matters), and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (food safety)
  • Importance of having a national policy in place to address animal welfare and health issues during disaster
  • Difference in attitudes about animal welfare among countries (WOAH’s challenge in developing international standards related to animal welfare)
  • Importance of education related animal welfare for veterinary students in Japan and the need for follow-up after graduation

Resources

Animal welfare (regional site)

WOAH Guidelines on Animal Welfare in Disaster Risk Reduction

WOAH Guidelines on Simulation Exercises

WOAH Global Conference on Emergency Management in 2023 to convene the animal health community and other sectors to discuss emergencies impacting or involving animal health: Global Conference on Emergency Management WOAH

WOAH Regional Animal Welfare Strategy (RAWS) Asia-Pacific: WOAH RAWS Asia-Pacific

WOAH Platform on Animal Welfare for Europe (2024 – 2026): Welfare of animals in disasters

Animal Disaster Education (ADE) foundation page (ADE-Foundation)

Links to relevant publications available online: