Genetic resources are genetic material of actual or potential value, whether embodied in live animals or in material such as cryopreserved semen or embryos. Animals here include all animal species that are used, or may be used, for food and agriculture, and the populations within each of them, in other words all species of livestock, including both mammalian and avian species.

Livestock species populations generally include a number of subpopulations referred to as breeds. According to the definition used by FAO, a breed is “either a subspecific 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.”

Animal genetic resources provide crucial options for the sustainable development of the livestock sector, whether in terms of increasing food production, mitigating and adapting to climate change or promoting the supply of a broad range of ecosystem services.

Erosion of the world’s animal genetic resources has accelerated in recent decades as a consequence of the rapid changes affecting livestock production systems.