International Matters
Not least fundamental political and legal international agreements, like the so-called "Rio Convention" (Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD), emphasise the global dimension of this topic.
Consequently, national activities (research, documentation) are performed in close cooperation with European and worldwide organisations, with multilateral schemes and strategies. The international and politically relevant organisation in this context is the FAO as it provides a platform for the subject of genetic resources.
This development was highlighted by the adoption of the "Global Plan of Action" on the occasion of the First Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources in Interlaken, Switzerland, in 2007 which was based, among other things, on the State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources report by the FAO.
Many national activities result from those international obligations. For example, ever since it was established the "Central documentation of animal genetic resources in Germany" (TGRDEU) regularly collected data on farm animal breeds in Germany and made it available to international databases. These also include the database of the European Association for Animal Production as well as the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System run by FAO. Furthermore, the data is also made available to the EU and its administrative units for various purposes.
Another international link is the European Regional Focal Point (ERFP), where all European National Co-ordinators for animal genetic resources work together.
Not least, German representatives are delegates to the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) and the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources (ITWG-AnGR).