Recommendations
L
should take the initiative to develop a critical mass of
biocultural community protocols describing their breeds, traditional knowledge and
ecosystem management practices.
IVESTOCK KEEPERS THEMSELVES
These endeavours need to be supported by capacity-building, training, and small amounts
of funds for publishing the protocols. Much of the capacity-building can take place at the
grassroots level – i.e., communities that have already established protocols can provide
guidance to others, in the form of South-South exchange or inter-community learning.
Community protocols should be the (mandatory?) foundation and starting point for all
outside interventions related to livestock and animal genetic resources. They are a means of
including communities in national strategies and action plans, as spelled out in the Global
Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources.
Donors should support the dissemination of the protocols by funding the establishment of
a website and/or an “atlas of livestock cultures” which compiles the individual protocols.
Policymakers at local, national, regional and global levels should provide their formal support to these self-determination efforts of livestock-keeping communities and take Article
8j seriously, as well as the various actions of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic
Resources that request equitable involvement of communities.
Policy-makers need to also accept livestock keepers’ organizations as formal stakeholder
groups in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources
and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Their regular participation in the Conference
of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the meetings of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture must be ensured, and they should
also be included as dialogue partners in the emerging debate about the future of livestock
production (e.g. FAO, 2010).
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