Pathways to protecting farmed animals in Southwest Asia

By Sueda Evirgen @ 2026-02-08T23:10 (+7)

We’re very excited to share five new studies from Animetrics, created in collaboration with Sezin Ekinci and the Middle East Vegan Society (MEVS): Pathways to protecting farmed animals: The current landscape of public views, potential barriers, and opportunities in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon.

While research on public attitudes toward animal agriculture is expanding globally, context-specific evidence from Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA/MENA) remains limited. This region is experiencing rapid population growth, rising demand for animal-based foods, and distinct cultural and institutional contexts. Without locally grounded data, it is harder for advocates, policymakers, and researchers to design effective strategies and engage the public in meaningful ways.

To help address this gap, we conducted a large public survey with around 2,000 participants across the five countries (roughly 400 respondents per country).

Across the five studies, we examine public views related to farmed animals across three areas:

• Pathways to change, including dietary behavior, support for alternatives (e.g., cultivated meat), advocacy, and stronger laws and regulations.
• Barriers to change, such as positive views of meat, speciesist beliefs, religious justifications, and cultural expectations around masculinity or hospitality.
• Facilitators of change, including recognizing farmed animals as sentient and understanding links between animal agriculture and wider issues like climate change, pandemics, and worker conditions.

We also examine who people think should lead public education on farmed animal welfare and legal protections, and what kinds of support respondents are willing to offer animal protection organizations.

📖 Read the full country reports

🔍 Key highlights across the five countries

• Plant-based eating is viewed positively: Even though most people currently eat mostly animal-based diets, plant-based eating is viewed positively in all five countries. Around two-thirds hold positive views, and many are interested in learning more about plant-based proteins or substituting them for animal protein.
• Strong support for legal protections: Support for legal protections for farmed animals is consistently high, ranging from nearly 8 in 10 to more than 9 in 10 respondents.
• Broad public support for animal protection organizations: Around half of respondents say they would support an organization working to protect farmed animals and promote plant-based eating, with support often beginning through low-effort actions like following or sharing content online.
• Key barriers: Strong attachment to meat and the belief that eating meat is an unquestionable right appear across countries as major barriers to dietary change and other forms of progress; in some contexts, religious justifications and hospitality norms also play a role.
• Key facilitators: Recognizing farmed animals as sentient and being aware of wider harms linked to industrial animal agriculture (such as impacts on health and the environment) are linked with stronger support across multiple pathways.
• Who people expect to educate the public: Government institutions and certification bodies are consistently seen as responsible for public education on farmed animal welfare and legal protections, and religious institutions are also commonly mentioned in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

📌 Main recommendations to advocacy organizations

• Build on openness to plant-based eating to increase the availability, visibility, and appeal of plant-based options.
• Leverage strong public support for legal protections to advance policy and regulation-based approaches to improving farmed animal welfare.
• Align outreach with how supporters prefer to engage, prioritizing accessible, low-effort actions while offering clear pathways for deeper involvement.
• Address key barriers through careful, tested, and culturally sensitive approaches.
• Center messaging on animal sentience and broader impacts of animal agriculture on people, communities, and the environment.
• Communicate public expectations to institutional and religious actors who are widely seen as responsible for public education on farmed animal welfare and legal protections.

📝 Read the reports? Please take our 2-minute feedback survey. Your input helps us do better and reach further. 💛