ASIA PACIFIC
The Asia-Pacific region is losing its rich livestock resources, thanks to the indiscriminate use of Western technology and rapid population growth, says the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). FAo has launched a new project, named Conservation and Use of Animal Genetic Resources i4 Asia and the Pacific.
Thirty-six per cent of the total number of' animal breeds in the world are found in this region. But it has not been looking after them well enough. A's a result, at least 51 species are now on the verge of extinction.
"The major problems relating to the region's agriculture sector are, the need to improve local breeds (of livestock), to provide adequate food for these breeds and to tackle the various endemic diseases that have wrought a deteriorating effect on animals," says the World Watch List for Domestic Animal Diversity, a journal jointly published by the FAo and the United Nations Environment Programme. Animal genetic resources are crucial for the permanence of productivity of global agriculture. "This simply means that ... some day, perhaps sooner than we think, there simply may not be enough to eat," says Dr David E Steane, head of the FAO's new programme.
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