Another report from FA0 says that 20 percent of the world’s livestock breeds are at risk. And the culprits are those we’ve come to know and love; intensification, globalization, modernization. So what’s new? They may be planning to do something about it, that’s what. The report is part of a process leading up to the first International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources, to be hosted by the Government of Switzerland, in Interlaken in September 2007. Anyone out there want to keep an eye specifically on that topic?
The sad thing is that most animal breeds are disappearing in tropical countries and it is those resources that may prove to be a greatest value to the rest of the world in times of global warming. Why not create huge cryobanks for semen and embryos. This would be possible in most species and resources c/should be directed to develop the necessary technology in species in which it is not yet feasible.
I think cryobanks may be on the agenda. But don’t hold your breath. The experience of some countries under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the effect of that on the storage and exchange of plant genetic resources, has not been good. The recent International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture tries to redress the balance and loosen up the log-jam. But it will need a similar treaty, and lots of investment, to do the same for all those breeds in tropical countries.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust is trying to secure the foundations of plant genebanks, with a little success. There’s nothing even vaguely like it for animals. Yet.