A broad group of thinkers advocates for a pro-animal foreign policy that weaves animal welfare into international relations to address climate, health, trade, and governance.

The author’s introductory overview reflects on researching a World War II history from animal perspectives and explores practical visions for a pro-animal foreign policy by gathering input from animal activists and thinkers.

The conclusion sketches a landscape of plausible policy ideas, emphasizing diplomacy, reform, and concrete steps tied to climate, health, and animal welfare.

Efforts to curb zoonotic diseases center on enforcing wildlife trade treaties, cutting habitat destruction and factory farming, and pursuing technological alternatives to meat.

Moritz Stumpe calls for uniform welfare standards for imported and domestic products and limits on factory farming funded by Global North aid.

Matthew A. King proposes aligning trade and aid with stringent humane standards inspired by domestic protections, like Prop 12, and redirecting development funds toward plant-based agriculture.

Martin Smedjeback advocates accelerating cultivated meat development and imposing higher taxes on traditional animal products to shift away from animal-based protein.

Katherine Perlo urges promoting veganism through land reform and subsidies that favor stock-free food production within aid and trade policies, alongside Itai Roffman’s emphasis on cell-based meat and reducing rainforest destruction and zoonotic risks via international collaboration.

Reforming trade and agriculture is central: invest in cultivated meat, tax traditional animal products, apply domestic welfare standards to imports, end export of prohibited farming equipment, and redirect subsidies toward stock-free production.

Policy core themes include reducing or eliminating funding for industrial animal agriculture, promoting alternative proteins, reforming international trade to enforce animal-welfare standards, and investing in sustainable foods and technologies.

Some voices stress enforcement and accountability, tying foreign aid and cooperation to nonhuman welfare reforms and using market access and finance to deter intensive animal agriculture.

Incremental diplomatic steps are proposed, such as bans on mink farming and restrictions on live mustelids, tied to public welfare and domestic farming concerns.