ELBARN is the European Livestock Breeds Ark
and Rescue Net. The origin of ELBARN lies in rescue actions undertaken in Switzerland in the 1980s. From these early rescue actions a vision emerged of a
pan-European network to ensure that valuable livestock can be protected from
slaughter in times of crisis. Additionally, a pilot project began, in the
German-speaking area of Europe, to create an online ‘guidebook’ of all centres with rare livestock
breeds that are open to the public. This took the form of the Arca-Net website (www.arca-net.info
), promoting a network of ‘Ark Centres’. In 2006,
these two ideas were combined to create the concept of the European Livestock
Breeds Ark and Rescue Net in a project application to the European Commission. This
application was submitted by five non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the
project was chosen for support as a concerted action.
This funding has led to major achievements:
five workshops took place, a questionnaire has been conducted and a set of
breed descriptions, Guidelines and four Area Action Plans have been published. Further
information and the project’s publications can be found on the ELBARN website
Alongside this work, the Arca-Net pilot
project has been expanded from the German-speaking area and combined with the
ELBARN project to include, at the time of writing, over 500 centres in 43
European countries, which makes this a unique collection of farms, open air
museums, nature reserves, etc., all conserving the traditional breeds of their
region.
In order to join the celebration of
biodiversity that is taking place this year, ELBARN has published a book about
agrobiodiversity – a crucial part of biodiversity.
The book should be both enjoyable and
informative. The texts and photos show the variety of ways in which ‘agrobiodiversity’
can be seen as important. There are also many brief examples, which tell the
history behind ELBARN and also show that, all over Europe, people are actively
trying to conserve indigenous livestock breeds in many innovative ways. The
photos to be found throughout the publication show the variety and beauty of
this, often forgotten and neglected, part of biodiversity.
In case you would like printed copies
please do not hesitate to contact Elli
Broxham, elli@elbarn.net, who
will be happy to send copies to you for the price of post and packaging.
