ddg fao
20 Jan
Activities

INDIA ELECTED AS VICE-CHAIR AT THE 12TH SESSION OF FAO’S INTERGOVERNMENTAL TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP (ITWG) ON ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES (AnGR) FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

India has been elected as Vice-Chair in the 12th Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group (ITWG) on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, being held at FAO headquarters in Rome during 18-20 January 2023. Dr B N Tripathi, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), ICAR, the National Coordinator from India was elected as Vice-Chair and also as Rapporteur of the 12th Session of ITWG and represented Asia & Pacific region.

ITWG of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been established by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) at its 7th Session in May 1997.

The 12th Session is intended to hold to address the issues to 1) review the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources; 2) review the status of the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System; and 3) preparation of the Third Report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It would also discuss to explore the role of genetic resources in mitigating and adaptation to climate change; access and benefit-sharing for genetic resources; and “digital sequence information” and potential implications for the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources.

Earlier, in Global National Coordinators’ Workshop held in Rome, on 16-17 January 2023, before the ITWG Session, Indian efforts on preserving its large animal genetic resources (AnGR) diversity was widely appreciated. Dr B N Tripathi presented about the country’s breed diversity, the cataloguing of native breeds, breed registration, notification system and efforts to document non-descript AnGR. In the workshop, he also shared country’s experience in filing the data in Domestic Animal Diversity – Information System (DAD-IS).