Leaders of traditional livestock and pastoral communities, government representatives, civil society organisations with a focus on livestock genetic resources, academics and livestock researchers met in Karen, Kenya from 27 – 30 October, 2003. They issued the following statement.

We call on governments and relevant international bodies to commit themselves to the formal recognition of the historical and current contribution of pastoralists and pastoralism to food and livelihood security, environmental services and domestic animal diversity. Click here for more

Kenya, 27th-30th October, 2003

Pastoralists and other indigenous livestock breeding communities have developed a large number of farm animal breeds with unique genetic adaptations. In times of wide spread and indiscriminate cross-breeding or substitution with exotic breeds, these marginalised people have acted as custodians of pure breeds that represent the result of many generations of traditional knowledge and active genetic manipulation for certain culturally defined criteria. It is now acknowledged that these breeds are often endowed with very desirable genetic traits, such as for disease resistance, fertility and general fitness, which are not present in the genetic make-up of high performance animals. Click here for more