sentences:  This requires that they be demographically stable, healthy, well maintained and capable of self-sustaining reproduction, distributed among several institutions to lessen the risks of catastrophic loss, of sufficient size to maintain high levels of genetic diversity.Conservation breeding programmes (such as the Species Survival Plan (SSP), established 1981, or the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), established 1985) are typically organized at the level of the regional associations, in particular AZA and EAZA, because the exchange of animals between regions is expensive and - mainly due to veterinary restrictions - difficult.At its 2003 Annual Meeting, however, WAZA adopted a procedure for establishing interregional programmes, which may concern a number of species for which International Studbooks have been established.