International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) have inked a collaborative research agreement to work on "development and application of decision-support tools to conserve and make sustainable use of genetic diversity in indigenous livestock and wild relatives".
The collaborative research project will be supported through funds from UNEF-GEF of US $243,234 by ILRI on behalf of National Executing Agency in accordance with the project budget. The agreement was signed by UAF VC, Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan and representative of ILRI Professor M. N. M. Ibrahim, Regional Project Co-ordinator, GEF-UNEF-ILRI FAnGR project, regional project office University of Perandeniy, Sri Lanka here at the VC's chamber on Thursday evening. The main target of the five-year project is conservation of indigenous livestock for future generations and their increased contribution to livelihoods through enhanced use.
The immediate objective of the project is to develop and make available effective tools to support decision making in conservation and sustainable use of indigenous Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR) and their wild relatives in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Through the project, the four partner countries are seeking to build-on their current framework for conservation of genetic resources and strengthening policies and programmes to conserve and use farm animal resources. The four countries have endorsed convention on biological diversity (CBD) with livestock becoming recently a national priority. The University of Agriculture Faisalabad will target goat species for Pakistan.
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