Integrating working animals into disaster risk management: insights from six countries

This study explores how working animals, such as horses, donkeys, and mules, are insufficiently integrated into disaster risk management (DRM) frameworks across Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Senegal. It highlights how current policies mainly focus on livestock, neglecting the specific roles of working animals in transport, income generation, and emergency response, and failing to address hazard-specific risks affecting them.

The findings highlight significant gaps in policy implementation, coordination, and data systems, including fragmented institutional responsibilities, lack of funding, and absence of reliable data on working animals. It also identifies missing early warning systems, risk maps, and post-disaster assessments that include animals. The report calls for stronger governance, better data integration, and the inclusion of working animals in climate resilience and disaster risk strategies.