The Pacific region is made up of 20-30,000 islands (approx. 1,500 islands are inhabited) with a land area of 551,060 km2 (0.45% of the land area of the earth) spread across the Pacific Ocean (1/3 of the surface area of the earth) approximately 1,500 islands are inhabited. Of the total land area, 98% is located in 5 large island countries; these countries contain 84% of the total population (approx 8 million) of the region, with the
balance being located in the other 17 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTS).

Throughout the region, the demand for livestock and their products is growing driven by increasing populations, rising disposable incomes, changes in dietary patterns and the expansion of tourism in the region. To meet the demand there has been trend towards the commercialisation of production systems with the introduction of high producing exotic breeds; this has resulted in the erosion of genetic diversity throughout the region as local breeds are replaced with exotic breeds and their crosses. Local breeds however survive in some of the low input subsistence production systems where they were developed over many years and to which they are well adapted. To address the issue of the loss of genetic diversity on a global basis the FAO CGRFA initiated a State of the Worlds Animal Genetic Resource (SOW-AnGR) programme as a part of a global strategy for the management of farm animal genetic resources.

The SOW-AnGR programe established the Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Mailing List --- SWP-AnGR mailing list: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If you wish to subscribe to this mailing list, please contact our AHP focal points.