Role of biotechnology in exploring and protecting agricultural genetic resources

This publication provides an up-to-date overview of the current status of the world's genetic resources for food and agriculture, of the use of biotechnology tools for characterizing and conserving these genetic resources, and of the many specific issues involved in using them for these purposes in developing countries. It brings together papers from an international workshop held on 5-7 March 2005 in Turin, Italy, on the role of biotechnology for the characterization and conservation of crop, forest, animal and fishery genetic resources as well as the background and summary documents from an e-mail conference on the same subject that was held three months afterwards.