Agrobiodiversity and Loss of agrobiodiversity
Agrobiodiversity
is the component of biodiversity that contributes to food and agriculture
production. It is a vital subset of general biodiversity and forms the basis of
food security and livelihood security of billions of people.
Agricultural
biodiversity or agrobiodiversity is the genetic resources for food and
agriculture. It includes animals,
plants, and microorganisms used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture. It includes the following:
·
Crop varieties, breeds of livestock, fish
species, and various wild species within field, forest, rangeland and aquatic
ecosystems
·
Non-harvested species such as soil
microbiota and pollinators, and other species in the wider environment.
This
agricultural biodiversity is the product of the application of the knowledge
and skills used by women and men to develop agriculture, livestock production
and aquaculture. It is known that some
7,000 species of plants and hundreds of animal species and thousands of aquatic
plants are edible, still human societies have focused on only a few species to
feed themselves. Only about 100 crops, a handful of grasses and a dozen animal
species are considered to be essential for feeding the world. Just four crops provide
more than half the dietary energy for the whole world’s population — maize,
potatoes, rice and wheat.
This
dependence on a few species as a food source is a potentially dangerous
strategy, since there is high risk from pest or disease epidemics and climate
change. Fortunately, our resourceful indigenous peoples, farmers, forest
dwellers, pastoralists and fisher-folk have developed a myriad of varieties of
every crop, breeds of livestock and sub-species of fish and other aquatic
organisms. Thus these species are available adapted to survive different ecosystems,
climates and pest and disease threats. By developing, selecting and improving
local varieties and livestock breeds, swapping and sharing seeds and animals
amongst themselves, agricultural biodiversity has been maintained.
The
exchange of seeds and breeds across the world has resulted in a vast number of
locally adapted varieties and breeds. Maize, which originated in Mexico, is a
staple crop in Africa and Asia, America and Europe. Apples originated in the Himalayas and there
are varieties suited in all temperate regions of the world. Rice came from S E
Asia, potatoes from Peru, and are cultivated throughout world.
The
biosphere is dependent on agricultural biodiversity. For every crop variety, livestock
breed or aquatic organism growing on a farm or pasture or in ponds, there are
thousands of other species on which it depends — other plants, animals,
insects, pollinators, predators and soil biota (fungi, bacteria, soil insects,
worms). In one teaspoon of healthy soil there are estimated to be more than 100
million soil organisms of some 50,000 different species, each with its specific
functions and niches. Pollinators, including bees, provide the fertilization possible.
All of these are interdependent life-support systems that sustain local
ecosystems. These ecosystems provide a
productive environment, clean water, healthy top-soils, living landscapes,
clean air and act as a sink for excess carbon dioxide.
Agroecosystems
are determined by three factors: the genetic resources, the physical
environment and the human management practices. The interaction between these
factors determines the evolutionary process and eventually results in genetic material
that is well adapted to local abiotic and biotic environmental variation.
Agricultural
biodiversity provides the important raw material for improving the quality of
crops, livestock, and fish. It will create opportunities for entrepreneurship from
a whole range of value-added foods, medicines, nutraceuticals, biofuel, and
other sources. On a global scale, nearly 2.5 billion people depend directly on wild
and traditionally cultivated plant species to meet their daily needs.
Loss
of Agrobiodiversity
For
over 12 000 years, agricultural activities played an important role in
sustaining and strengthening food, nutrition, health, and livelihood security. Now, agrobiodiversity is under threat by the
globalization of food, intellectual property systems and industrial food
production. Agricultural biodiversity is
disappearing and the scale of loss is extensive. With the disappearance of
harvested species, a wide range of unharvested species also decline or
disappear.
The
genetic erosion of agricultural biodiversity is also intensified by the loss of
forest cover, coastal wetlands, and other wild uncultivated areas, and by the
destruction of the aquatic environment. This leads to losses of wild relatives
which are important for the development of biodiversity.
There
are many causes for declining Agrobiodiversity and the principal underlying
causes are the following:
·
The rapid expansion of industrial and
Green Revolution agriculture, intensive livestock production, and industrial
fisheries and aquaculture.
·
Globalization of the food system and
marketing and the industrial patenting and intellectual property systems of
living organisms.
These
has led to the widespread cultivation and rearing of fewer varieties and breeds
for a more uniform and less diverse, but more competitive, global market.
Genetic
erosion is the loss of genetic diversity and include the loss of individual
genes and combinations of genes. The
main cause of genetic erosion in crops is the replacement of local varieties by
improved or exotic varieties and species. As old varieties in farmers’ fields
are replaced by newer ones, genetic erosion frequently occurs because the genes
and gene complexes found in the diverse farmers’ varieties are not contained in
the modern variety. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimate that more
than 90 per cent of crop varieties have disappeared from farmers’ fields in the
past 100 years. Agricultural plant varieties are continuing to disappear at 2
per cent a year. Livestock breeds are being lost at 5 per cent annually.
Genetic Engineering or
Genetic
modification is a threat to both the genetic integrity of agricultural
biodiversity and its ownership.
·
The location of an inserted gene, the
impact of modification of the genome and the impact and location of promoters
is unknown in most cases and could have long-term deleterious effects.
·
The genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
may produce unexpected proteins that could cause allergies in humans
·
The impacts GMOs may have on other living
organisms and the environment are unpredictable.
·
The resultant gene constructs could spread
through the biosphere by way of horizontal gene transfer, through seeds,
pollen, soil micro-organisms and so on, with unknown consequences.
The
seven principal GM crops grown in 1998 were soybean, maize, cotton, canola (rapeseed),
potato, squash, and papaya.
Genetic Patents - The
insertion of patented genes into plants and animals, using genetic engineering
technologies, transfers ownership of those plants and animals to the gene’s
patent holders. This will result in privatization
of the variety through patents and other intellectual property rights.
Terminator Technologies -
Threats
also arise from the development of Terminator Technologies. This involves a GMO
having Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs), that limit a plant’s ability
to produce certain traits. The most dramatic of these is the variant that
prevents germination of seeds produced by a plant. This result in greater dependence
on formal seed markets by the farmers.
Agricultural
biodiversity was developed through the free exchange of seeds and other genetic
resources and is better conserved and utilized through common access
arrangements and the realization of community, farmers’ and traditional rights.\
References
Emerging Consequences of Biotechnology - Biodiversity Loss and IPR Issues, Krishna Dronamaju, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Biosphere - Ecosystems and Biodiversity Loss, Dana Desonie, Chelsea House
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