ROME (AFP) - More than 2,200 farm animal breeds such as H'Mong cattle in Vietnam and Chiapas sheep in Mexico are likely to be extinct by 2020, the UN food agency warned Tuesday.
"Every week the world loses two breeds of its valuable domestic animal diversity" and a third of nearly 6,500 known mammals and birds in 170 countries are facing extinction, said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The FAO released its latest "World Watch List for Domestic Animal Diversity," a compilation of data from 170 countries covering 6,379 breeds.
"In the past 100 years we have already lost about 1,000 breeds," said Keith Hammond, senior officer of FAO's Animal Genetic Resources Group.
New FAO "findings show that domestic animal breeds continue to be in danger: one third are currently at risk of being extinct," he added, warning that 2,255 threatened breeds will be lost over the next 20 years if nothing is done.
This would further deplete the world's precious pool of animal genes.
FAO, in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), studied 6,379 breeding species and found 740 already extinct and 1,335 others at a high risk of extinction.
The percentage of mammal species threatened by extinction worldwide rose to 35 percent from 23 percent in 1995, while the outlook is still bleaker for birds because 63 percent were threatened last year, up from 51 percent five years ago.
"As much as novel biotechnology may attemt to improve breeds, it is not possible to replace lost diversity," said Hammond. "Loss of diversity is forever."
Experts see large genetic diversity as a safeguard against famine and natural disaster and as invaluable for future generations.
But FAO sees the biggest risk in exporting animal species from developed countries to developing nations for crossbreeding purposes or replacement of local breeds.
The agency found that developing countries still consider breeds from industrial nations more productive when they are in fact mainly unsuited for local conditions.
"Maintaining animal genetic diversity allows farmers to select stocks or develop new breeds in response to environmental change, diseases and changing consumer demands," said Hammond.
Breeding programs -- most of them in developed countries -- cover only some 400 species when farmers could be interested in 4,000 existing breeds, he added.
According to FAO domestic farm animals provide up to 40 percent of the agricultural sector's global economic value, with some two billion people at least partially depending on the sector for their livelihood.
Meat, milk and egg production will have to more than double over the next 20 years if the world's growing population is to be fed, FAO said. But farm animal production is also important for other economic sectors, such as manure for fertilizer, hides and leather for clothing.
The third FAO and UNEP list for domestic animal diversity highlights serious regional problems.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 15 percent of 738 breeds on file are threatened by extinction and the percentage of threatened mammals rose to 19 percent from eight in 1995, that of birds from 20 to 34 percent.
The report noted that the Renitelo cattle in Madgascar is nearly extinct,
In the Asia and Pacific region, about 10 percent of 1,251 breeds are threatened including the H'Mong cattle in Vietnam, with only an estimated 14,000 cattle left.
The percentage of threatened mammals rose to 14 percent from 11 in 1995 and that of birds from 32 percent to 37 in the region.
In Europe, FAO and UNEP counted 2,576 breeds, of which nearly 50 percent are threatened for reasons of economic profitability.
Between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of threatened mammals rose to 49 percent from 33 and that of birds from 65 to 76 percent.
In Latin America, data was only available for 65 percent of 330 registered mammal species and birds but at the end of 1999 the percentage of breeds threatened by extinction was estimated at 27 percent, unchanged from 1995.
In the Middle East, 44 out of 571 breeds were threatened, or eight percent.
The situation was no better in North America where 35 percent of 259 registered breeds were threatened.
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