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Infos on animal genetic resources (AnGRs)

Conservation and utilization of genetic resource of local breeds is one of research missions in animal sciences as part of continued agriculture. There are four major tasks in the establishment of animal germplasm conservations; collection, maintenance, evaluation, and utilization.

Degradation of AnGRs

There are only slightly more than 40 domestic livestock species commonly used in farming systems (Barker, 1999; FAO, 2000, p. 7). They are the source of 30 to 40 percent of the total value of food and agriculture production. Globally, domestic AnGRs constitutes 30 percent of total human requirements for food and agricultural production (FAO, 1999). Only 14 of these 40 domesticated species contribute to 82 percent of the world's food and agriculture production with a large range of species in the family Bovinae as major food suppliers (Barker, 1999; FAO, 2000). These figures reveal a clear discrepancy in production yields within domesticated species. Over the last 12,000 years these 14 species have been domesticated and have evolved into separate and genetically unique breeds adapted to their local environments and community requirements. There are some 6 000 to 7 000 domestic breeds remaining. These breeds and the species they represent, together with approximately 80 species of wild relatives, comprise the world's AnGRs important for food and agriculture (FAO, 2000, p. 22) and this diversity should be preserved.

Agro-biodiversity

The Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) is a legally binding agreement signed at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which is aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of its benefits. One hundred sixty-eight countries have ratified the Convention since it entered into force by the end of 1993. It explicitly recognizes national sovereignty over the biological resources within a country's borders, with access to others, subject to mutually agreed terms and prior consent. The CBD recognizes the intrinsic value of the biological diversity and expresses the signatory Parties' concern over the extent and speed of its degradation and the need to take action to prevent further losses.
Biological diversity has been defined by the CBD as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of the ecosystems. Biological diversity embraces the total variability of all living organisms and the ecological complexes they inhabit and occurs at three levels: the number of different species, the different combinations of species within ecosystems, and the different combinations of genes within species (IPGRI, 1999). That component of biodiversity that contributes to food and agriculture production. The term agrobiodiversity encompasses within-species, species and ecosystem diversity. Agricultural biodiversity or agro-biodiversity includes all components of biological diversity relevant to food and agriculture.
In 1992 the United Nations passed the CBD, delivering the platform for international strategies, plans and programs for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity . The CBD was a first step in recognising the immense significance of global biodiversity and its endangered state. A further important step was the recognition of AnGRs by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) in 1997. However, many developed countries are still neglecting this threat and have contributed to a massive decline in the number of species used nowadays for agricultural production. In the 7th Session of the CGRFA in May 1997, a subsidiary Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources (ITWG-AnGR) was established to address issues relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of AnGRs for food and agriculture (CGRFA, 2004).