📍Conserve Genetic Diversity to cope with Climate Change

India is home to the largest number of cattle in the world. It is estimated that of the roughly 1.6 billion cattle globally, 34 percent are to be found in India. The most important milch breeds (cows bred for milk) in India are the Sahiwal, Gir and Tharparkar. Another high yielder, the Red Sindhi originally from the Sindh-Balochistan area is now facing near extinction. Thanks to its immense genetic wealth of cattle and buffalo, India is the world’s largest milk producer. 

Clearly this unique genetic wealth must be conserved. Indigenous breeds of cattle are hardy and carry unique genetic traits like resistance to diseases and pests; they have a high tolerance to high heat and can ride out water stress. In addition, they can thrive on low input grass based diets. One need not emphasize the value of such traits in a time of global warming which is already bringing high heat and drought conditions as also higher incidence of new diseases. Genetic diversity is one of the most important tools available in the living world, whether plants, animals or microbes, to cope with the growing challenges of climate change.

Given its massive repository of indigenous cattle, accounting for a major share of global cattle genetic diversity, India carries a special responsibility for the conservation of this globally important genetic resource. We need to conserve these genes not just for ourselves but for the entire world. In addition to that, given its stake in securing its pole position in milk production, India should be particularly alert to conserving its cattle and buffalo genetic wealth. But is that the case?

Unfortunately, cattle genetic diversity in India faces severe threats and the continuing loss of unique native gene pools is cause for concern. The reasons are many but chief among them is the indiscriminate cross breeding of native breeds with imported high yielding breeds like Holstein-Friesian and Jersey in order to boost milk production. Little care was taken over the years to separate native cow populations and keep them isolated to conserve their unique genetic identity. This has resulted in the dilution of valuable genetic traits. In rural areas , economic pressures remain significant. Farmers are hence inclined to give in to the market requiring sustained high-volume milk production. This has resulted in lower yielding local breeds being abandoned.

The challenge therefore is to enable high milk production so that cattle farmers can earn better but also ensure that the genetic diversity of cattle breeds is not lost. Both must be balanced for long term sustainability of the sector. 

Effective conservation of cattle genetic diversity would need a mix of live animal management and long-term biological storage. Farmers and pastoralists who actively breed and maintain indigenous and heritage cattle breeds should be supported and their work documented. Conservation areas should be demarcated and animal husbandry practices must be improved. 

Cold gene banks should be established at national and regional levels to store semen, embryos, and somatic tissues. This genetic material will be valuable to override disease out breaks, severe droughts and fodder scarcity. India has already taken steps to establish cold conservation of animal genetic resources. It has set up the National Livestock Gene Bank in Karnal, Haryana where the genetic diversity of indigenous cattle, buffalo, goats, sheep, camel, equines, and yaks is conserved. It is however weak on live animal management and needs to do far more there.

 📍Svalbard: The Gene Bank near the North Pole

One of the most precious structures located in the Arctic is the Svalbard Gene Bank built into a mountain on Spitsbergen Island, just outside the town of Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago of Norway. This international Gene Bank is located roughly 120 meters deep inside the frozen permafrost, at a latitude of 78 degrees North, well inside the Arctic Circle, close to the North Pole.

The Gene Bank in Svalbard is often referred to as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault or the Doomsday Vault. This name embodies the intent of the Gene/ Seed collection in Svalbard, that if the Earth were to suffer catastrophic damage, if doomsday, so to speak, were to arrive, then seeds of the crops grown across the world would be found stored safely here. These seeds could be used to replant the ravaged Earth and help the remnants of the surviving humanity to stay alive and re-people the Earth again.

Svalbard is to be seen as a secure backup facility for seeds. It is like a safe deposit box where the seeds remain the property of the depositors. The bank holds over 1.4 million samples from countries across the globe. The vault physically holds backup seed samples from over 220 countries /territories which means practically the whole world. It preserves the genetic diversity of crop plants, especially food crops against climate change, wars, disasters, and other catastrophes that the human race could dream up.

India is among the leading contributors to the Svalbard Bank. The largest number of samples have come from the National Gene Banks of India, the United States, Germany, and Canada. These countries maintain some of the biggest volumes of backup crates inside the vault. 

I visited the Svalbard Seed Vault in 2009 at the invitation of the Norwegian Government. The invitation came because of Gene Campaign’s work on conserving crop genetic diversity and setting up community managed Zero Energy Gene–Seed Banks in villages in Jharkhand. Different kind of banks to the Arctic vault but same goals.