What Makes Livestock Conservation
So Different from Plant Conservation?
GENEBANKS
In the area of genebanks, it
appears that developed countries perceive the value of conserving their plant
genetic resources while developing countries do not yet appreciate the value of
conserving their livestock genetic resources. Establishing a genebank for
animals involves long-term storage of semen, embryos or tissues in liquid
nitrogen. Costs to collect, cryoconserve and subsequently reconstitute animal
germplasm are many times greater per preserved genome than costs to collect,
store and subsequently use seeds. Perhaps for that reason, we have no
initiative for livestock germplasm comparable to the Global Trust Fund for
preserving plant germplasm. And while Norway is completing construction of a
seed vault carved out of solid rock inside a mountain in the Arctic as a
‘fail-safe’ back-up facility for plant genebanks around the world—a vault that
will open in 2008 and help ensure a secure and reliable supply of genes of plants,
including all of our major crop species, into the distant future—the global
community has been much less prepared to make the investments needed to
safeguard its livestock heritage. This despite the fact that it generally takes
much longer to create a livestock breed than to create a plant variety—for some
breeds it has taken centuries—and that it is clearly a global responsibility to
ensure that all key resources for food and agriculture are maintained.
WILD
ANCESTORS
With the
exception of the wild boar (Sus scrofa),
the ancestors and wild relatives of major livestock species are either extinct
or highly endangered as a result of hunting, changes to their habitats, and in
the case of the wild red jungle fowl, intensive cross-breeding with the domestic
counterpart. In these species, domestic livestock are the only depositories of
the now largely vanished diversity of the wild ancestors. This is a major
difference from crop species, in many of which the wild ancestors are commonly
found at the centres of origin and represent an important source of variation
and adaptive traits for future breeding programs.
GENE
FLOWS
In
contrast to plant genetic resources, where genes have moved largely from South
to North as industrialized countries search for disease-resistance and adaptive
traits to be incorporated into new plant varieties, movements of livestock
germplasm from South to North have been rare in the past century. Over the last
four to five decades, gene flows via both live animals and their semen or embryos
have accelerated from North to South, propelled by globalization and the
commercialization of animal breeding.
PUBLIC
AWARENESS
Whereas
public awareness of the significance of conserving the world’s plant and wild
animal genetic resources is fairly high, awareness of the need to conserve
livestock genetic diversity at the policy level tends to be low. One result is
grossly inadequate characterization of local breeds. A second is that development
of livestock genetic resources is left largely to the commercial sector, which
focuses on international high-performance breeds. A third is that people’s use
of livestock genetic diversity to secure their livelihoods and nutritional
health, and the potential to improve on this traditional strategy, is largely unacknowledged
in policy areas, international agendas and the work of international and
non-governmental organizations.
FARMER
INVOLVEMENT
In traditional production systems,
most breeding and development activities are ‘participatory’ in the sense that
decisions regarding the seeds to save for planting and the animals to retain
for breeding are made by farmers rather than professional plant and animal
breeders. However, the intensification of crop agriculture has brought about institutionalized
and centralized seed production sectors dominated by publicly funded firms. The
animal breeding sector is far less centralized and institutionalized and direct
involvement of farmers in animal breeding remains substantial.
INSTITUTIONAL
CAPACITY
Perhaps the most significant
difference between the crop and livestock sectors involves institutional
capacity for genetic resource management. Many institutions in the seed sector
already maintain extensive collections of plant genetic resources and actively
contribute to the development and release of plant varieties. Institutional
capacity for the conservation of livestock genetic diversity is limited, with
only a few national ex situ
collections existing, mainly in developed countries. It therefore appears we
shall have to substantively enhance global capacity for conservation and
better use of these resources, as well as promote new institutional models and
collaboration among public institutions and between public institutions and
private farmers.
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