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Editorial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2016

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Type
Editorial
Information
Animal Genetic Resources/Resources génétiques animales/Recursos genéticos animales , Volume 58 , June 2016 , pp. ii
Copyright
Copyright © Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2016 

Dear reader,

This issue features ten articles, with strong focus on ruminants. The majority of articles deal with characterization of breeds but also consider production environments. Improved understanding of the adaptedness of livestock breeds to production environments is indeed important for many decisions in the field of animal genetic resources management. As adaptedness is complex and difficult to measure, one approach to this problem is to characterize adaptedness indirectly by describing the production environments in which a breed has been kept over time, and to which it has probably become adapted. Enjoy reading!

We would also like to inform you that, while writing these lines the Animal Genetic Resources Branch of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)Footnote 1 is busy with the preparation of the Ninth Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture which will take place in Rome in July 2016. The Working Group was established in 1997 by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Footnote 2 to support its work in the animal genetic resources sector.

The Working Group will discuss topics such as

  • • Implementation and possible update of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources

  • • Review of the Funding Strategy for the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources

  • • Access and benefit-sharing for animal genetic resources

Draft documents for the Session will be made available at the Working Group webpageFootnote 3 and you are warmly invited to have a look at them. You will find there the final version of The Second Report on the State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Footnote 4 as well as in-brief and brochure versions of the Second Report published in all official languages of FAO.

On the Working Group webpage you will also find information on the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources DAD-ISFootnote 5 which currently contains data from 182 countries and 38 species. Since 2014, the percentage of avian and mammalian breeds for which population data are available in DAD-IS has improved slightly, from 56 to 57 percent, and from 60 to 61 percent, respectively. The risk status remained essentially unchanged from 2014 to 2016; 17 percent of 8 822 breeds are currently classified as being at risk of extinction; 18 percent are classified as not at risk; 58 percent have unknown risk status and 7 percent are reported to be extinct.

The readership of Animal Genetic Resources might contribute to improve quantity and quality of data in DAD-IS. Therefore kindly have a look at the content of the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources of your country and, in case you have further data or research results, assist your National Coordinators for the Management of Animal Genetic ResourcesFootnote 6 in improving the content of DAD-IS.

Yours sincerely,

Roswitha Baumung