21 July 2011: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) will manage a new fund to help developing countries conserve and use their livestock breeds.

This fund is established in support of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources, which was adopted by FAO member countries in 2007. The fund has been established with a donation of US$1 million by Germany, Norway and Switzerland. The fund will be operational by September 2011, and any developing country will be able to put forward project proposals, with the selection process led by the FAO’s Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA). The fund will accept contributions from a variety of sources, including the private sector.

The FAO argues the importance of the Global Plan of Action based on the the extinction risk of over 2,000 of the world’s 8,000 livestock breeds. Countries are implementing the Global Plan of Action through focused activities on development, labelling of high-value products from rare livestock, and developing national strategies for improved genetic resources management. [FAO Press Release] [Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources]