Target 11: By 2021, management, policy and legal mechanisms and measures are available for conservation and protection of the country’s genetic diversity.

Thailand is an important genetic pool for both plant and animal species, as seen in the existence of no less than 10,000 varieties of native rice. However, varieties, traits and other genetic materials have continued to be loss due to the failure to enable their re-propagation and their replacement by commercial varieties as well as the loss of farmlands and their natural habitats to natural disasters, encroachment and change in land use. Introduction of exotic breeds and crossbreeding of livestock have been driving native breeds into extinction, reducing the genetic pools of livestock even further. To this end, measures are needed to manage, conserve and protect the country’s genetic diversity.