(Int'l)Biodiversity shrinks as farm breeds die out

[Guest guest]

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/09/09182001/reu_farm_45000.asp

 

Biodiversity shrinks as farm breeds die out

 

Tuesday, September 18, 2001

By Reuters

 

ROME — Breeds of farm animal are dying out and types

of plant disappearing at an alarming rate, threatening

long-term food security and depriving the world of

their ability to resist disease and harsh climates.

 

The United Nations world food body says two breeds of

farm animals disappear each week, and 1,350 breeds

face extinction.

 

Over the past 15 years, 300 out of 6,000 breeds of

farm animal identified by the Rome-based U.N. Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) have become extinct.

 

Latest information suggests that 30 percent of the

world's farm animal breeds are at risk of

disappearing, and their valuable traits, such as their

ability to adapt to harsh conditions, disease, drought

and poor quality feed, could be lost too.

 

" Once you lose a genetic resource, it's gone forever, "

said Ricardo Cardellino, the FAO's senior officer for

animal genetic resources.

 

" We don't know what we will need in future in terms of

genetic resources. "

 

PLANTS

 

Plant varieties are also disappearing fast.

 

The FAO estimates that over time 10,000 plant species

were used for human food and agriculture. Now no more

than 120 cultivated species provide 90 percent of

human food supplied by plants.

 

More than 90 percent of the agricultural diversity

that existed at the start of the 20th century has been

lost.

 

Given the expected doubling of food needs in the next

three decades as the world's population grows,

biodiversity will be essential to food security, the

FAO says.

 

The risk of depending on just a few varieties of

plants and animals is great because they could fall

victim to disease or drought.

 

" Farmers depend upon this diversity to raise animals

able to respond to unpredictable changes in the

environment, threats of disease, or changing market

conditions, " an FAO document said.

 

" Further erosion of animal diversity invites disaster

as options for long-term productivity and

sustainability are lost. "

 

Hartwig de Haen, an FAO assistant director-general,

said: " Insofar as biodiversity makes ecosystems more

resistant to the vagaries of climate..., it

contributes to alleviating hunger. "

 

Over the past decade, the FAO has helped collect data

from some 170 countries on domesticated mammals and

birds: cattle, goats, sheep, buffalo, yaks, pigs,

horses, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese,

pigeons, even ostriches.

 

The greatest threat to domestic animal diversity is

the export of animals from developed to developing

countries, which leads to cross-breeding or even

replacement of local breeds.

 

Many indigenous breeds are being replaced in both

developed and developing countries by a few high

production breeds which, to be successful, require

costly feed and maintenance, skilled management and

benign environments.

 

High-production Holstein cows now provide much of the

milk drunk in northern Europe and North America.

 

As for plants, industrial farming and globalization

have contributed to dwindling diversity.

 

" If you want tomatoes that can be taken to the market

and remain hard, are the same size and don't mature

rapidly, then you could end up with just a few

varieties, " Cardellino said.

 

RISKS

 

Shrinking biodiversity is bad news for mankind because

it puts too much reliance on too few crops and farm

animal species.

 

" If biodiversity continues to shrink, we are

increasing the risks of producing a large percentage

of our food based on few varieties or breeds, "

Cardellino said.

 

" If anything goes wrong — say, a variety is

susceptible to a disease — then we could lose a lot. "

 

FAO believes that using agricultural diversity is the

best way to conserve it.

 

" We cannot have a zoo where we have all the breeds in

the world, " Cardellino said. " They have to be used. "

 

FAO has introduced a global strategy to manage farm

animal resources, which aims to document existing

breeds, develop and improve their use in agriculture,

and maintain those not currently of interest to

breeders.

 

Copyright 2001, Reuters

 

 

 

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help?

Donate cash, emergency relief information

http://dailynews./fc/US/Emergency_Information/