After three years in the role, Dr Birte Nielsen is stepping down as GCAW’s Independent Chair.
Dr Nielsen said, “The challenge of improving the welfare of animals across global food production systems cannot be understated: it entails not only a wide variety in cultural and legislative standards from one country to another, but also increasingly interconnected international supply chains. Driving meaningful change in this context is hugely complex.
“The Global Coalition for Animal Welfare, whose members reflect the breadth of the animal protein supply chain and cover many geographies and species, has the ability to cut through this complexity. From my experience of working with this group, there is a clear commitment to progress which, combined with scale and influence, provide a great opportunity to shape direction.
“It has been a great pleasure to be involved in this journey during my tenure as Chair and I look forward to seeing further progress through GCAW’s work in years to come.”
Dr Nathan Rhys Williams, GCAW Secretariat, said, “On behalf of the GCAW Steering Committee and all members, I thank Birte enormously for her contribution to the continuing development of the Coalition over the last three years. In member and working group meetings, her wide-ranging experience and insight has provided useful inputs to discussions with expert speakers, in turn helping to broaden member knowledge. Outside of meetings, Birte has been a valuable sounding board for the Secretariat and, above all, a pleasure to work with.”
A new Chair will be announced in due course.
