Biotechnologies in agriculture and forestry: Governance insights from a comparative systematic review of barriers and recommendations

The application of biotechnological innovations has increased in agriculture and forestry over the past two decades. Numerous benefits of biotechnologies are documented; however, implementation is controversial and continues to face technical, biophysical and societal barriers. The longer history of agricultural biotechnology holds potential lessons for emerging proposals in forestry, and vice versa. Using a systematic review and content analysis of the scholarly literature in agriculture and forestry (235 articles) between 1989 and 2017, we compare these two sectors in terms of justifications for the use of biotechnologies, barriers to and recommendations for implementation, and types of evidence considered. The primary benefit of biotechnologies identified in the agricultural literature is food security, whereas forest productivity and adaptation to climate change are the most common motivating justifications in a forest context. We find a relatively greater emphasis in the forestry literature on regulatory and legal barriers. Both fields emphasize recommendations to address barriers related to lack of knowledge and governance processes despite relatively less emphasis on these items as identified barriers. Relatively few (32%) forestry articles were informed by insights from the social sciences and humanities as compared with 51% of those in agriculture. We discuss the implications of anticipated public opposition to tree biotechnology and associated perceptions of risk unique to trees. We also discuss biotechnology governance dilemmas within an “upstream” approach, highlighting the need for meaningful ways of involving stakeholders, rights holders and different publics at the earliest possible stage of the implementation of biotechnologies.