The Quadripartite: Building Alliances between the WHO, the FAO, WOAH and UNEP

In the past decades states and international institutions have sought to address the animal welfare problems arising out of industrial meat production by allowing the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) to transition from an organization solely focused on animal health problems that created risks for humans, to an organization that professes to protect animal welfare. However, WOAH cannot achieve this aim alone and depends on alliances with other international institutions. The paper focusses on alliance that WOAH formed together with FAO, the WHO and UNEP as the Quadripartite. It assesses how WOAH, through its alliances with other international institutions in the Quadripartite, has attempted to advance the goals of animal welfare and assesses what lessons we can draw from this collaboration for cooperation between international institutions.