J. S. F. Barker University of New England, Animal Science, Armidale, Australia The most pressing problems facing the human species can be summarized in the fewest words as "population, food security and the environment". The world's population is forecast to rise from 6.0 to 8.7 billion by the year 2030. At the same time, the area of arable land per person is decreasing - because of loss of land due to human activity (currently 1 million hectares of arable land is lost per year), as well as the increasing number of people. Feeding more people from less land will require massive increases in agricultural production (amount of product) and productivity (output per unit input), while at the same time the sustainability of production systems must be improved. Further, the increase in demand for animal products is projected to outstrip that for plant products (Delgado et al. 1999), so there will be even more pressure on the animal sector. Satisfying these demands will require effective and integrated action in many areas (e. g. political, sociological, economic and trade), quite apart from directly increasing animal production. The present global animal genetic resources (AnGR) are what we have available to better meet the animal product needs of the current human population, and to meet these increasing demands. We need to utilize them as efficiently as possible, while any loss of these resources will restrict our options for livestock improvement, both now and in the future. The focus is on current perceptions of animal genetic resources and inherent differences relative to the plant sector. First, however, some historical background puts the current situation in perspective.