ANNEX 2.
WORKING DEFINITIONS FOR USE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY REPORTS AND PROVIDING SUPPORTING DATA

These working definitions are provided to facilitate the interpretation and use of the agreed Guidelines and Background Questions for use in preparation of the first Report on the State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources. Definitions of additional terms may be obtained from the Reference Module of DAD-IS.

• Farm Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR): those animal species that are used, or may be used, for the production of food and agriculture, and the populations within each of them. These populations within each species can be classified as wild and feral populations, landraces and primary populations, standardised breeds, selected lines, varieties, strains and any conserved genetic material; all of which are currently categorized as Breeds.
• Breed: either a sub-specific group of domestic livestock with definable and identifiable external characteristics that enable it to be separated by visual appraisal from other similarly defined groups within the same species, or a group for which geographical and/or cultural separation from phenotypically similar groups has led to acceptance of its separate identity.
• Locally Adapted Breeds: which have been in the country for a sufficient time to be genetically adapted to one or more of traditional production systems or environments in the country. Indigenous Breeds, also termed autochthonous or native breeds and originating from, adapted to and utilized in a particular geographical region, form a sub-set of the Locally Adapted Breeds.
• Recently Introduced Breeds: whose importation was within the last 5 or so generations for the species concerned, and which were imported over a relatively short period of time. These would include breeds that were imported in the recent past but that have not been reintroduced since that time; and
• Continually Imported Breeds: whose local gene pool is regularly replenished from one or more sources outside your country. Many of the breeds used in intensive production systems or marketed by international breeding companies would be in this category.
• Exotic Breeds: which are maintained in a different area from the one they were developed and including breeds that are not locally adapted. Exotic breeds comprise both Recently Introduced Breeds and Continually Imported Breeds.
• Breed at Risk: any breed that may become extinct if the factors causing its decline in numbers are not eliminated or mitigated. Breeds may be in danger of becoming extinct for a variety of reasons. Risk of extinction may result from, inter alia, low population size; direct and indirect impacts of policy at the farm, country or international levels; lack of proper breed organization; lack of adaptation to market demands or perceived as of lower performance. Breeds are categorised as to their risk status on the basis of, inter alia, the actual numbers of male and/or female breeding individuals and the percentage of pure-bred females.
• Extinct Breed: when it is no longer possible to recreate the breed population. This situation becomes absolute when there are no breeding males or breeding females remaining. In reality extinction may be realized well before the loss of the last animal, gamete or embryo.
• Population: a generic term but when used in a genetic sense it defines an interbreeding group, and may refer to all the animals within a breed. The genetics of the population is concerned with the genetic of all individuals it comprises, and with the transmission from generation to generation of samples of the genetic variability associated with this population.
• Indigenous Species: which belongs to an area where it has evolved; also called native species.
• Domestic Animal Diversity (DAD): the spectrum of genetic differences within each breed, and across all breeds within each domestic animal species, together with the species differences of interest for food and agriculture production.
• Assessment: all activities associated with the description, analysis and reporting of DAD status and trends and their underlying causes, including the state of the art and capacity to manage this diversity, as well as country needs and priorities for effective management.
• Adaptive Management: management practices, technologies and policies that promote the positive and mitigate the negative impacts on the broad spectrum of biological diversity of animal production and its AnGR, whilst responding to the need to realize food security and sustainable agriculture and rural development; by expanding knowledge, understanding and awareness of the multiple goods and services provided by these resources.
• Capacity Building: strengthening the capacities of farmers, indigenous and local communities, and their organizations and other stakeholders, to manage sustainably DAD so as to increase its benefits, and to promote awareness and responsible action. Capacity building involves education and training, technology transfer, organizational infrastructure, development of policy and of financial mechanisms.
• Mainstreaming: in relation to action required for effective AnGR management, the main tasks for government in the area of policy development and implementation. More formally: supporting the development of national plans and strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of DAD, including their integration in sectoral and cross-sectoral plans and programmes.
• Clearing House Mechanism (CHM): an information exchange platform for AnGR management that reflects the recognition that co-operation and sharing of knowledge, expertise and other benefits among communities is necessary for effective characterization, utilization and conservation of DAD. A CHM is based on a concept of voluntary contribution and unrestricted access to information.
• Local Knowledge: the unique knowledge existing within and developed by local communities, including but not limited to gender specific knowledge, that relates to AnGR management in a particular geographic area. Local Knowledge also encompass `Indigenous Knowledge' and `Traditional Knowledge'.
• Domestic(ated) Animals: whose breeding and husbandry are controlled by human communities to obtain benefits or services from them. The process of domestication may take many generations of the species to be completed.
• Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources: encompasses all technical, policy, and logistical operations involved in understanding (characterization), using and developing (utilization), maintaining (conservation), accessing, and sharing the benefits of animal genetic resources.
• Characterization of Animal Genetic Resources: all activities associated with the description of AnGR aimed at better knowledge of these resources and their state. Characterization by a country of its AnGR will incorporate development of necessary descriptors for use, identification of the country's sovereign AnGR; base-line and advanced surveying of these populations including their enumeration and visual description, their comparative genetic description in one or more production environments and of these environments, the valuation of AnGR, and ongoing monitoring of those at risk.
• Base-line Breeds Survey: summary data describing the identification and observable characteristics, location, uses and general husbandry of the AnGR for each species used in the country for food and agricultural production.
• Adaptive Fitness: a genetically determined complex of characteristics which enhance a breed's ability to reproduce and survive in a particular production environment. Also referred to as Adaptation.
• Evaluation: measurement of the characteristics that are important for production and adaptation, either of individual animals or of populations, most commonly in the context of comparative evaluation of the traits of animals or of populations.
• MoDAD: measurement of DAD within domestic animal species and identification of relationships, expressed as genetic distances among breeds, within each species.
• Valuation: description of the extent to which market values of AnGR reflect their `real' or `fair' value, accounting for all goods and services they may provide to current and future generations of humankind. In the case of market failures, market prices will differ from the value that society attaches to AnGR. The primary motivation for valuing AnGRs is to assist policy development and management decisions.
• Conservation of Farm Animal Genetic Resources: refers to all human activities including strategies, plans, policies and actions undertaken to ensure that the diversity of farm animal genetic resources is being maintained to contribute to food and agricultural production and productivity, now and in the future.
• In situ Conservation of Farm Animal Genetic Diversity: all measures to maintain live animal breeding populations, including those involved in active breeding programmes in the agro-ecosystem where they either developed or are now normally found, together with husbandry activities that are undertaken to ensure the continued contribution of these resources to sustainable food and agricultural production, now and in the future.
• Ex situ Conservation of Farm Animal Genetic Diversity: conservation of genetic material within living animals but out of the environment in which it developed (Ex situ in vivo), or external to the living animal in an artificial environment, usually under cryogenic conditions including, inter alia, the cryo-conservation of semen, oocytes, embryos, cells or tissues (Ex situ in vitro). Note that ex situ conservation and ex situ preservation are considered here to be synonymous.
• Genebank: the physical location for conservation of collections of well identified genetic material in the form of live animals, in situ or ex situ (as conservation herds or flocks), or ex situ stored semen, oocytes, embryos, cells or tissues. Also referred to as Genomebank.
• Gene pool: the total genetic information in all the genes in a breeding population at a given time.
• Utilization of Farm Animal Genetic Resources: the use and development of animal genetic resources for the production of food and agriculture. The use in production systems of AnGRs that already possess high levels of adaptive fitness to the environment concerned, and the deployment of sound genetic principles, will facilitate sustainable development of the AnGRs and the sustainable intensification of the production systems themselves. The wise use of AnGRs is possible without depleting domestic animal diversity. Development of AnGRs includes a broad mix of ongoing activities that must be well planned and executed for success, and compounded over time, hence with high value. It requires careful definition of breeding objectives, and the planning, establishment and maintenance of effective and efficient animal recording and breeding strategies.
• Breeding Strategy: all policy, technical and operational facets of the genetic improvement activity for a breed or for several breeds where crossing is involved ; from the identification and planning of the total activity within the development objective for the animal population, through its implementation and further development phases, including, inter alia, ongoing animal recording and evaluation, dissemination of the improved genetic material, reviewing effectiveness and the progress being achieved, as well as the socio-economic dimensions of the breeding strategy. The term Breeding Programme should be taken as synonymous.
• Breeding Structure: the structure of the mating system for a population of one (straightbreeding) or more (crossbreeding) breeds. The term Mating System should be taken as synonymous.
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): an organism that has been modified by the application of recombinant DNA technology also termed Living Modified Organisms (LMOs).
• Farming System: a contiguous population of farms that have broadly similar resource bases, enterprise patterns, household livelihoods and constraints, and for which similar development strategies and interventions would be appropriate. Farming systems include all activities, both agricultural (cropping, pasture, livestock, as well as any horticultural, silvicultural and aquacultural elements, providing also for processing and marketing of commodities,) and non-agricultural, under the control of farm household units. Generally, consideration of farming systems should account for all inputs and outputs of each element of the system.
• Size of Farms:
• Subsistence: less than 50% of production is marketed.
• Smallholder: small family farms with more than 50% of production marketed
• Small-scale-commercial: medium family farms with more than 50% of production marketed
• Large-scale-commercial: large farms or companies with all production marketed
• Services: in relation to food and agricultural production, and particularly to AnGR management those supporting activities facilitating and enabling this production and management to succeed; such as: education, training, research and extension, animal recording and evaluation, artificial breeding, transport and marketing and so on. The term is also used in relation to the various contributions beyond food production provided by animals to humankind, such as employment generation, risk management, draught power, fibre, fuel fertilizer and landscape management.
• Infrastructure: The physical and organizational set up of the transportation network, communications system, financial institutions, and other public and private services necessary for economic activity.
• Production System: all input-output relationships, over time, at a particular location. The relationships will include biological, climatic, economic, social, cultural and political factors, which combine to determine the production of a particular livestock enterprise. Also termed Production Environment. Production systems range from areas where there is very little husbandry or human modification of the environment, to very intensive management systems where feed, climate, disease and other factors are controlled or managed by farmers. The level of animal husbandry or intervention varies enormously from region to region and from farm to farm. Thus, a common way to classify production environments is to group them according to the level of human intervention as:
• High-input Production System: a production system where all rate-limiting inputs to animal production can be managed to ensure high levels of animal survival, reproduction and output. Output is constrained primarily by managerial decisions.
• Medium-input Production System: a production system where management of the available resources has the scope to overcome the negative effects of the environment, although it is common for one or more factors to limit output, survival or reproduction in a serious fashion.
• Low-input Production System: a production system where one or more rate-limiting inputs impose continuous or variable severe pressure on livestock, resulting in low survival, reproductive rate or output. Output and production risks are exposed to major influences, which may go beyond human management capacity.
• Productivity: the ratio of output per unit of input. This ratio can then be applied at different levels, such as animal, unit of grazing area, or production enterprise. An equivalent term is Production Efficiency.
• Sustainable Intensification of Production Systems: the manipulation of inputs to, and outputs from, livestock production systems aimed at increasing production and/or productivity and/or changing product quality, while maintaining the long-term integrity of the systems and their surrounding environment, so as to meet the needs of both present and future human generations. Sustainable agricultural intensification respects the needs and aspirations of local and indigenous people, takes into account the roles and values of their locally adapted genetic resources, and considers the need to achieve long-term environmental sustainability within and beyond the agro-ecosystem.
• Food and Agricultural Production: the outputs of food, fiber, fertilizer, draught and transportation, and other services such as employment generation and risk management that can be obtained from farm animal genetic resources.
• Food Security: food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Achieving food security means ensuring that sufficient food is available, that supplies are relatively stable and that those in need of food can obtain it.
• Strategic Country Report: a country based report on the status and trends of AnGR and their current and potential contribution to food, agriculture and rural development; the assessment of the state of the art and of capacity to manage these resources; and the identification of needs and priorities for action required to sustainably use, develop and conserve those AnGR considered to be important for realizing in the country as a whole food security and sustainable rural development in both the short and longer term.
• Issues: the most important items that have to be addressed or focused on when analysing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with a particular situation; in order to establish the desirable direction for progress, the priorities for action and the needs to achieve this action.
• Priorities: those actions which if taken will help most to realize the sustained management of AnGR; often given in order of importance for implementation, i.e. in order of priority. They may include policy development, operational and technical actions.
• Regional: in relation to the Country Report, refers to activities that pertain to, or will be developed by, a group of countries having features in common, as for example, being located together geographically, sharing common climate, production environments, language, etc.
• National Consultative Committee (NCC) for SoW-AnGR: a group of people established by the government in order to produce the strategic country report on the state of animal genetic resources. It is recommended that the National Coordinator for FAO be a member of the NCC, as either a member of the Committee or in the capacity of Secretary to the Committee. The following concerned parties should be represented in the NCC: the relevant national planning authority or authorities; government agencies responsible for farm animal genetic resource utilization and conservation; and the wider range of stakeholders, including: the private sector, non-governmental organizations, farmers' organizations, indigenous and local community representatives, agricultural organizations and breeding associations, research and training organizations, and international organizations located in or active in the country which may be able to contribute.
• National Co-ordinator (NC): the government-identified technical contact person for country development of the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm AnGR. He or she is responsible for assisting with the development of an effective country network and within-country co-ordination of activities concerning the management of AnGR. The NC should be a member of or closely associated with the NCI.
• National Co-ordinating Institution (NCI): the government identified national institution that is responsible for implementing and maintaining an in-country network for country development of the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm AnGR.
• National Focal Point for the Management of AnGR (NFP): includes both the National Co-ordinator (NC) and the National Co-ordinating Institution (NCI).
• Network of Data Contributors (NDC): The country network of stakeholders being developed by the National Co-ordinator for AnGR and further trained by the NCC to initially develop supporting data and information for the preparation of the Country Report and to further contribute to increasing effectiveness in the characterization, use, development and conservation of the AnGR in the country, including in the provision of support services such as education, training, research and extension, animal recording and evaluation, artificial breeding and so on.
• Stakeholders: those affected by the outcome, negatively or positively, or those who can affect the outcome of a proposed intervention.
• Regional Focal Point (RFP): desirably a country-driven regional institution facilitating regional communications, providing technical assistance and leadership, co-ordinating training, research and planning activities among countries, initiating development of regional policies, assisting with the identification priorities for action and project proposals for international collaboration, and interacting with government agencies, donors, research institutions and non-governmental organizations, and with the FAO Global Focus for the Management of AnGR.
• Global Focal Point (GFP): established at FAO headquarters in Rome, to develop and detail the framework for the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources, for country use, and to assist countries and regions to develop and implement AnGR management.