Intergovernmental meeting

The Seventh Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture took place in Rome in October 2012.Footnote ¹ As discussed in the editorial of volume 51, one of the main tasks facing the Working Group was to review progress made in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic ResourcesFootnote ² . The Working Group welcomed the substantial progress made, but acknowledged that gaps remain to be addressed, particularly in terms of improving collaboration and the funding of activities. Detailed information can be found in the document Synthesis progress report on the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources – 2012,Footnote ³ which was prepared for the Working Group's meeting.

The information presented in the Synthesis progress report was also used to prepare a set of three posters:

1. 1. Strategic priorities of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic ResourcesFootnote ⁴

(overview of the strategic priorities of the Global Plan of Action at national, regional and global levels);

1. 2. Status of implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic ResourcesFootnote ⁵

(indicators for each strategic priority at national, regional and world levels); and

1. 3. Colour scheme expressing levels of implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic ResourcesFootnote ⁶

(colour scheme used to illustrate the indicators).

The Working Group's agenda also included the preparation and timing of an update of The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It had been foreseen that a second report would be presented to the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2017, 10 years after the first report was published. However, because of the heavy workload scheduled for the Commission's Sixteenth Regular Session in 2017, the Working Group was asked to consider the possibility of advancing the preparation of the second report by two years, i.e. recommending that the Commission request FAO to present the report to the Commission's Fifteenth Regular Session in 2015, which would mean having a draft ready for review by the Working Group in late 2014. The Working Group recommended that the Commission agree to this schedule. This volume of Animal Genetic Resources went to press before the Commission's meeting in April at which the Working Group's recommendation was to be considered.

The second report, whether presented in 2015 or later, would be regarded very much as an update of the first report, presenting the changes that have occurred during the intervening years in the status of animal genetic resources and their management, as well as the latest scientific developments in relevant fields. Reporting burdens placed on countries would be kept to a minimum and information on the state of animal genetic resources management at national level obtained via specific questionnaires rather than by requesting more elaborate country reports of the type prepared for the first report.

The Working Group's agenda also included a review of implementation of the Funding Strategy for the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources (the meeting coincided with the announcement of the first set of projects chosen to receive support under the Funding Strategy);Footnote ⁷ the roles of small-scale livestock keepers in the conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources; targets and indicators for animal genetic resources; the status and trends of micro-organisms for ruminant digestion; and a review of the outcomes of the First Session of the Commission's Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing.

Thirty years of the Commission

As well as being a potentially busy year for the international animal genetic resources community, 2013 is also the thirtieth anniversary year of the Commission. Founded in 1983 as the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Commission can look back on a long series of achievements, including the negotiation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the preparation of State of the World Reports and Global Plans of Action in the plant and animal genetic resources sectors. The Commission's work has expanded from its initial focus on crops, first to animals (livestock) and later to forests, aquatic genetic resources, and invertebrates and micro-organisms. Links between the various sectors of genetic resources and their roles in the provision of ecosystem services are receiving ever greater attention in the Commission's work, particularly in light of the planned preparation of a report on The State of Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture.

Journal archive

Readers may be interested to learn that Cambridge University Press has made all back issues of Animal Genetic Resources available on its web site,Footnote ⁸ which also features a powerful search tool.