Livestock biodiversity and sustainability

Sustainable development equally includes environmental protection including biodiversity, economic growth and social equity, both within and between generations. The paper first reviews different aspects related to the sustainable use of livestock biodiversity and property regimes that influence their management. The different dimensions of livestock biodiversity, from the gene to the ecosystem, have characteristics of common pool resources, club goods and private goods that affect the way they are managed, researched, invested in and exchanged. In the second part, the paper uses a country-level dataset to assess trade-offs between livestock genetic diversity and economic development goals. Despite the low resolution of country data, the results of the analysis tend to confirm the importance of economic development drivers for the risk status of breeds. Therefore, research in the valuation of non-market products and services, including ecosystem services, provided by diverse breeds would need to be intensified in order to close the mismatch between the private and public interests in breed conservation.