Strategie di conservazione della biodiversità animale zootecnica in aree montane [Strategies for the conservation of farm animal biodiversity in mountain areas]

Domestic animal genetic resources (DAnGR) include all animal species and breeds that have been domesticated and selected during the past 10000-12000 years to provide a range of products and functions. Unfortunately, a large number of farm breeds have been lost and many more are at risk of loss. To disappear, replaced by few high-yielding and specialized animals, are local breeds. They are adapted to the local environmental and disease stresses, they need low external inputs and are able to give many different products (i.e. milk-meat-wool) and services. In few words, they are sustainable and multipurpose. Mountains are rich in local breeds that are resistant to inclement conditions of the surrounding environment, plastic enough to contribute to the selfsufficient economy of mountain communities, and preserved in genetic purity because of the geographic isolation. The research compares the strategies adopted in mountain areas for the conservation of three different sheep breeds facing extinction. Throughout deep-interviews to various actors (breeders, representatives of breeders’ associations, SME, public officials, policy makers and researchers), the analysis reveals that in all case-studies the program of conservation is linked to a wider process of local development. The research highlights the factors of success or failure, it analyses the role of the different actors involved in the conservation program and the relationships among them. It describes the characteristics of those partnerships between public and private that have some prospects in the medium-long term.