The full potential of animal genetic resources is not being realized, particularly in developing countries, and it is recognized that there is a great need to improve the use and development of these resources. This is clearly stated in The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and in the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources, adopted by the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture held in Interlaken, Switzerland, in September 2007, and subsequently endorsed by all FAO member countries. The Breeding strategies for sustainable management of animal genetic resources, prepared by FAO, are a contribution to meeting these needs. The specific objective of the guidelines is to assist countries to plan and develop effective genetic improvement programmes and to maximize the chances that these programmes will be sustained. The guidelines aim to address policy, operational and technical issues, and how these interplay to shape the outcomes of breeding strategies. Policy-makers and organizations involved in livestock development are the principal target audience. The guidelines adopt a broad scope in order to avoid fragmenting the topic and presenting policy, operational or technical matters in an unconnected way to different groups of users. A comprehensive approach is necessary because the lessons learned from livestock breeding in practice demonstrate that activities must be coordinated and integrated in time and space in order to achieve clarity of direction and efficiency of operation, and that the whole process must be underpinned by a sound understanding of technical issues. The initial sections of the guidelines take a national or regional perspective. Later sections become progressively more targeted towards breeding organizations and those responsible for implementing specific breeding schemes, both straight-breeding and cross-breeding. Each section outlines a set of tasks that needs to be carried out in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Each of these tasks is further broken down into a series of actions. The last section of the guidelines deals with the evaluation of investment decisions and return on investment in genetic improvement.

The six sections of the guidelines are more-or-less stand-alone elements, and while knowledge of animal breeding theory and quantitative genetics is not a prerequisite for following the guidelines, such knowledge will certainly lead to more appreciation of the material discussed.

The guidelines include 48 boxes, which provide illustrations and case studies, 8 tables and 4 figures.