Karen Marshall and Jimmy Smith
Food Forever–Biodiversity for Resilience Inaugural Meeting
Stockholm, 11 June 2017
Safeguarding livestock
genetic diversity

The International Livestock
Research Institute (ILRI)
ILRI’s mission is to improve food and
nutritional security and to reduce
poverty in developing countries
through research for efficient, safe
and sustainable use of livestock—
ensuring better lives through livestock
ILRI is part of the CGIAR system;
two main campus in Kenya & Ethiopia,
+16 other offices, 700+ staff

The Importance of Livestock

The global livestock sector
 Asset value $1.4 trillion; employs >1.3
billion people
 Livestock contribute an average of 40% of
the agricultural GDP
 The 4 billion people who live on less than
US$10 a day (primarily in LMIC) represent
a food market of about $2.9 trillion/year.
 ASF = 5 of the 6 highest value global
commodities
 Demand for ASFs, particularly in LMIC, is
increasing  significant production
increases required to meet this demand

4 of 5 highest valueglobal commodities are livestock
FAOSTAT 2015
(values for 2013)
Cow milk has
overtaken rice
Animal source foods: 5 of 6 highest value
global commodities
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
0
50
100
150
200
250
Production(MT)millions
Netproductionvalue(Int$)billion
net production value (Int $) billion production (MT)

Number of poor livestock keepers (millions)
Poor defined as <2 USD per day, 2010 data (Robinson et al., 2011)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Sub-Saharan
Africa
South Asia East Asia and
Pacific
Eastern
Europe and
Central Asia
Latin America
and
Caribbean
Middle East
and North
Africa
Globally
766 million
Livestock have an important role in livelihoods –
particularly of the rural poor

Multiple roles of livestock to the rural poor
 Savings & insurance
 Food & nutrition: meat / milk
 Income
 Draught power / transport
 Fertiliser (manure)
 Various uses of hides and skin
 Livelihood risk reduction
 Ceremonies / dowry
 Benefit from common property
resources
 Ecosystem services

Livestock genetic diversity

Why conserve livestock genetic diversity
 Large heterogeneity of livestock
production systems, particularly in LMIC
 Diverse roles of livestock
 Ability to adapt –
 to changing environmental
conditions
 changing needs & preferences of
livestock keepers, other value chain
actors, consumers
 Underpins sustained genetic
improvement
Much of the world’s livestock genetic
diversity resides within LMIC

Current status
 17% of world’s livestock breeds classified at-risk of extinction in 2014
 Likely an underestimate: some breeds have no data; not all countries reported
FAO, 2015

Risk factors to animal genetic diversity

Action on livestock genetic diversity conservation
Convention on biological diversity
 The conservation of biological diversity
 The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity
 The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of
the utilization of genetic resources
Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity
2011-2020
 Aichi Biodiversity
Targets
Nagoya protocol
 provides a transparent legal
framework for the effective
implementation of the CBD
objective 3 on benefit
sharing
SDG Goal 2. End hunger
2.5 By 2020, maintain the genetic
diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and
farmed and domesticated animals and
their related wild species …
Global plan of action
for AnGR
 Internationlly agreed
framework for the
management of AnGR for
food and agriculture
112 countries report that they have prepared, are in the process of preparing or
plan to prepare, national strategies and action plans for AnGR
Country capacity in ANGR management improved, but still many weaknesses
Interlaken
declaration
 Affirms countries
commitment to the GPA

Main approaches to AnGr conservation
In-situ conservation
 livestock maintained in own
production environment
 incentives required – market, other
(e.g. public sector subsidies)
Cryo-conservation
 storage of frozen genetic material -
gametes, embryos and somatic cells
 in-vitro gene banks established in 64
countries, with another 41 countries
planning to do so (FAO, 2015)
Conservation approaches for PGR are
not directly transferable to AnGR
 Biological differences
 Animal breed sector is less centralized
and institutionalized than the plant
seed sector
 Costs to collect, conserve, and
reconstitute animal germplasm are
significantly greater than costs to
collect, store and subsequently utilize
seed
(FAO, 2015)

Key findings from the 2nd State of the
World report on AnGR
 The world’s livestock diversity remains at risk.
 The assessment of threats to AnGR needs to improved.
 Institutional frameworks for the management of AnGR need to
be strengthened.
 Conservation programs for AnGR
have become more widespread,
but their coverage remains
patchy.
 Livestock diversity and the
sustainable management of
AnGR are acquiring a greater
foothold on policy agendas.

Thank-you
Safeguarding livestock genetic diversity

This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
better lives through livestock
ilri.org
ILRI thanks all donors and organizations who globally supported its work through their contributions
to the CGIAR system

Global plan of action for AnGR
 Internationally agreed framework for the management of AnGR for food and
agriculture
 Developed via Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,
adopted September 2007 in Interlaken, Switzerland – along with Interlaken
Declaration on AnGR
 Four strategic priority areas
 Characterization, inventory and monitoring of trends and associated Risks
 Sustainable use and development
 Conservation
 Policies, institutions and capacity building
 Recognizes that main responsibility for implementation is national
governments – with others providing supporting role
AnGR = AnGR used in
or potentially used for
food and agriculture
Interlaken declaration
– affirms countries
commitment to the
implementation of the
global plan of action