Synopsis (short abstract)In this book, we are happy to bring together papers from the meeting in Turin (international workshop held from 5 to 7 March 2005 in Turin, Italy) and the background and summary documents from the subsequent e-mail conference. The book aims to provide an updated 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 applying them in developing countries. Section I contains four papers on the status of the world's livestock, fishery, crop and forest genetic resources. Section II considers the use of cryopreservation and reproductive technologies for conservation of animal and plant genetic resources. Section III is dedicated to the use of molecular markers for characterization and conservation of genetic resources. Finally, Section IV contains the two documents from the e-mail conference.