Biotechnology, Prospects for Development in Emerging Economies

Throughout history, innovation has driven progress and helped people address the problem of the age. This progress has not been achieved without pain and controversy, at times war and famine and pestilence thwart our best endeavors. Despite setbacks, people throughout the world continue to strive to understand the natural world, to pursue truth and beauty, and to create a better world for themselves and their children. Science has a role to play in all these pursuits. However, the very power of the new discoveries in the biological sciences raises fears that these discoveries will not be used wisely. Many believe that they will: • Accelerate the destruction of the natural environment, • Damage human health • Concentrate too much power in the hands of a few global companies • Widen the gap between the rich and the poor, within and between nations. The task of the scholars of today is to analyze where Plant Biotechnology can lead to technical innovation and how these can be used wisely: • To improve agriculture productivity, • To conserve nature resources, • To create wealth especially for poor people in developing countries. Powerful tools provided by Biotechnology in recent years have had a profound impact on the food and agriculture sector worldwide. Innovation, production and processing methods have revolutionized many traditional systems, and the world's capacity to generate food products for its growing population has evolved at an unprecedented rate. These developments have naturally been accompanied by radical changes in economic forces and social organization as well as in management of the earth's productive resources. Our very relationship with nature has been overturned by technological advances that enable us not only to determine genetic improvement through selective breeding but also to modify living organisms and create novel genetic combinations in the quest for stronger and more productive plants animals and fish. Understanding such developments invariably give rise to controversy, and arguments for and against their implementation tend to be intense and emotionally-charged. CAES: