The ELBARN questionnaire was distributed widely amongst European stakeholders between December 2008 and May 2009. The purpose of the questionnaire was to identify potential Ark and Rescue Centres throughout Europe, to gain an overview of the state of European agrobiodiversity - e.g. how are breeds managed? how are products marketed? why do people keep rare breeds?
The 168 returned questionnaires from 36 European countries gave details of 69 potential Ark Centres, 47 potential Rescue Centres and 16 farms with quarantine facilities.
The Ark Centres are being verified through online research and contact. Once they have been verified as suitable for inclusion as an Ark Centre, the details will be entered into the database, which can be searched on both www.elbarn.net and also www.arca-net.info. Both these sites allow the visitor to find out more about the centres, to see if they sell any interesting products or offer services and also show how one gets to the centre. The animals that are on show at the centres can be looked up using the “breed descriptions” on www.elbarn.net
The potential Rescue Centres are being verified by direct contact or even visits. Once it has been verified that the centre exists and that they agree to be used as a Rescue Centre, the contact details will be added to a list. This list will be made available to those people who will need to deal with emergency situations. The owners of the Rescue Centres agree to be on this list and details will be published online with their permission.
It is still possible to send details of potential Ark and Rescue Centres!
If you know of one, please send the details to elli (at) elbarn.net
Thanks!
A summary of the main results can be downloaded as a *pdf here