Chairs:	L. Ollivier, Station de G�n�tique quantitative et appliqu�, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (F) P. Glodek, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Göttingen (FRG) E. Groeneveld, Federal Agricultural Research Centre, Mariensee (FRG)
Date:	July 17-18, 2000
Location:	Institute of Animal Science and Animal Behaviour, FAL Mariensee

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Final Statement For intensive breeding programs for poultry, swine and dairy cattle, existing genetic variability within breeding populations is considered to be sufficient to guarantee genetic progress in the foreseeable future in all aspects of production and animal health. The preservation of economically insignificant and therefore endangered species of domestic animals is seen as a matter of public concern for the preservation of cultural history. In countries where livestock production is under development, genetic improvement of well-adapted local breeds is of prime importance and should also contribute to their preservation. This means above all encouraging the evaluation of local breeds and developing systematic crossbreeding programs with them, and not their replacement with unsuitable breeds from high-input systems. These are important tasks for the global FAO program "Development of Animal Breeding in Lower Production Environments". Nevertheless globally operating high-input breeding organizations should also make suitable programs available to developing countries.