One in five species of livestock
endangered
: FAO Fri Dec 15, 12:38 PM ET
Some 20 percent of the world's livestock species -- cattle, pigs
and poultry -- are threatened with extinction, with one breed
disappearing each month, the Food and Agriculture Organization
warned.
Over the past five years alone, some 60 breeds of cattle, goats,
pigs, horses and poultry have become extinct, the Rome-based UN
agency said in a draft document, blaming globalization as the
"biggest single factor" in the erosion of livestock
biodiversity.
"Of the more than 7,600 breeds in FAO's global database of farm
animal genetic resources, 190 have become extinct in the past 15
years and a further 1,500 are considered at risk of extinction,"
the draft says.
Some 150 experts from 90 countries met in Rome this week to review
the findings, the first of their kind on a global scale.
"The globalization of livestock markets is the biggest single
factor affecting farm animal diversity," the FAO says.
"Traditional production systems require multi-purpose animals,
which provide a range of goods and services, (while) modern
agriculture has developed specialized breeds, optimizing specific
production traits," the report says.
"Maintaining animal genetic diversity will allow future generations
to select stocks or develop new breeds to cope with emerging
issues, such as climate change, diseases and changing
socio-economic factors," said Jose Esquinas-Alcazar, secretary of
the FAO's Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture.
Rearing livestock contributes to the livelihoods of one billion
people in the world, the FAO says.
A final report will be published for the first International
Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Reso.
