Synthesis Chapter: Managing Plant Genetic Diversity and Agricultural Biotechnology for Development

This chapter synthesizes the arguments presented in 20 different chapters on various aspects of agricultural biodiversity conservation, managing biotechnology for development, equity issues in the management of plant genetic resources, and the policy implications associated with the respective analyses. Overall, the analyses in this book indicate that agricultural biodiversity and biotechnology are co-evolving, with a number of different points of intersection. Recognition of the inter-dependency between biotechnology and biodiversity is critical to the achievement of sound policy design for the management of agricultural biotechnology and biodiversity in the context of economic development. The analyses suggest that on efficiency as well as equity grounds, direct beneficiaries from agricultural biodiversity conservation should be made to reward the providers of the benefits, based both on actual and expected gains. However, benefit-sharing mechanisms must be designed to recognize the significant benefits associated with maintaining a free flow of genetic resources. Several directions for future research were identified including: the economic assessment of the impacts of adoption of various types of agricultural biotechnologies as they evolve, identification and assessment of the risks associated with biotechnology adoption relative to potential benefits, designing institutions for monitoring the environmental impacts of agricultural biotechnology, assessment of the contribution and value of various forms of genetic resources and the costs associated with their loss, including the local and global public good values of diversity in terms of reducing vulnerabilities to pests and diseases, the value of maintaining diversity as an input agricultural breeding programs. Combining research on valuation and costs could be a highly useful guide to developing countries on targeting strategies for conservation. Markets, due to their increasing importance as a mechanism for the allocation of resources, need to be analyzed in terms of their role in providing incentives and disincentives for conservation. Finally, an important area for further research is the equity implications of alternative management schemes for plant genetic diversity conservation and agricultural biotechnology. Designing incentives for in situ conservation, which address not only current but also future opportunity costs associated with conservation in the presence of economic development, is another important equity issue where the analysis in the book indicates the need for more economic research.