in the systems in which they developed is even more essential. Breeds, the
indigenous knowledge of their keepers, and the production systems in
which they are embedded, cannot really be separated from each other.
been halted by paying farmers premiums for keeping traditional breeds, no
such support is available in developing countries. Even worse, in most
countries, policies actively discourage mobile livestock keeping.
economic growth, such as India and China. India's western state of Ra-
jasthan is famous for the quality of its livestock breeds, some of which form
the foundation of the massive South American beef industry. But common
grazing grounds are being converted to irrigated agriculture, and Rajast-
han's sheep population has declined by over 30% in the last 5 years, and
its camel numbers have fallen by 50%. "Rajasthan's pastoralists are forced
to rapidly abandon livestock keeping, and our young people migrate to the
cities", says Hanwant Singh of the NGO Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan,
"This also means that their breeds will become extinct".
biodiversity, but also contribute to sustainable land use management. This
is dramatically evident in the Gobi Desert. In the Chinese part of the Gobi,
the government promotes land privatization and commercial dairy produc-
tion. In the Mongolian part, efforts are made to revive pastoral mobility and
to add value to the traditional livestock, including camels. A team from
Cambridge University analysed the effects of these different land use
strategies by means of satellite photos, and noted massive erosion on the
Chinese side of the border, while the soil-binding vegetation is still intact on
the Mongolian side, where there is little erosion.
nized by the global community as an important environmental service. It
would be best to do this in the context of an international treaty on ani-
mal genetic resources, such as already exists for plant genetic resources.
Such a treaty would be of special importance for dryland countries.
members and partners from the LIFE Network attended a large number of
events in Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
vación y utilización de recursos zoogenéticos
with great interest. CYTED (Programa ibeoramericano Ciencia y Tecnolo-
gia para el Desarollo), an organization with over 200 members in Latin-
America and Spain, decided to write a declaration supporting LPP in its
work on intellectual property rights of livestock keepers and urging FAO to
take action. CYTED has field projects worldwide, mostly concerned with the
characterization of local breeds.
food security? A need for rethinking the approaches"
this workshop, which was organized by the Network for Smallholder Poultry