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Word association time: What comes to mind when you think "endangered
animals"? Odd-looking tropical frogs and obscure birds with funny
names? Time to adjust your thinking: The U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization estimates that one in five breeds of farm animal are in
danger of extinction. Of more than 7,600 breeds that the FAO has in its
farm-animal database, 190 have kicked the bucket in the last 15 years
-- about one breed a month. The globalization of livestock production
is the "biggest single factor" impacting farm-animal biodiversity, says
the FAO, as global agriculture focuses heavily on specialized,
über-productive livestock. Indeed, a mere 14 species provide 90 percent
of the human food supply from animals. FAO's José Esquinas-Alcázar is
stressing the importance of maintaining animal genetic diversity, which
he says will "allow future generations to select stocks or develop new
breeds to cope with emerging issues, such as climate change, diseases,
and changing socioeconomic factors." Foresight -- what a strange
concept.
*[Correction, 19 Dec 2006: This summary originally incorrectly referred
to endangered "species" of farm animal; it is instead "breeds" that are
endangered.]
straight to the source: U.N. News Center, 18 Dec 2006
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Don't Have a Cow: About 20 Percent of Farm-Animal Breeds* are Endangered, says FAO
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Grist Magazine, Dec 18, 2006
Straight to the Source
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