In 1983, FAQ and UNEP created an Expert Panel of 36eminent scientists to advise on Animal Genetic Resources Conservation and Manage- ment. The first meeting was held in Rome in October 1983, at which work in progress was evaluated, and recommendations made for the next few years. The meeting addressed 4 topics: i) Conservation by management; ii) Animal genetic resources data banks; iii) Training methods in animal genetic resources; and iv) Cryogenic storage of germplasm and genetic engineering.
The Proceedings of the meeting, with the full texts of the working papers presented and subsequently amended by the authors, are now published in two parts. This is Part 1 and contains the papers presented in the first three topic areas. Part 2 contains the papers in the section on Cryogenic storage of germplasm and genetic engineering.

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) has been identified as a global hotspot for chondrichthyan diversity, with 130 shark, 86 batoid (wedgefishes, skates and rays) and 11 chimaera species identified to date. The WIO is one of four global hotspots for chondrichthyan evolutionary distinctiveness, giving the region’s chondrichthyans a high irreplaceability index, and highlighting the need for their conservation.

The present report has been prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution 72/277 entitled “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment”, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit, at its seventy-third session in 2018, a technical and evidence-based report that identifies and assesses possible gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments with a view to strengthening their implementation.
The report reviews and analyses the corpus of international environmental law and environment-related instruments as well as the governance structure and implementation of international environmental law. It reveals gaps and deficiencies at multiple levels.