This book is about a new field of diplomacy that focusses on negotiations regarding the conservation and sustainable use of the world living resources. It is about biodiplomacy, a field that owes its origins to recent global concerns over the alarming rate at which living organisms are being lost due to human activity. This concern is emerging at a time when advances in science and technology are enhancing the economic potential that lies in the diversity of life on earth. Biodiplomacy deals with how the conservation of biological resources and their sustainable use impinge on international relations and vice versa. The world’s biological resources have been considered as the common heritage of humankind and as sovereign property of nations. The debate was resolved through protracted negotiations that resulted in the Con- vention on Biological Diversity which was adopted in 1992 and came into force in December 1993. The Convention has established a new interna- tional regime for governing the utilization and conservation of biological ie- sources. This convention delicately balances on four main pillars: conserva- tion of genetic resources, technological development, regulated access to genetic resources and international equity.
Tag: biotechnology
Assessing the merits of community level seedling production and distribution
One of the challenges facing projects that promote onfarmtree planting or forest plantations is how to provideseeds and seedlings at reasonable cost to planting sites.This can be overcome if planting is done on forest blocksites through the forestry department’s central nursery.Earlier attempts to promote community tree plantingbased on central nurseries operated by extension agentsor non-governmental organizations (NGOs) proved bothcostly and ineffective. To reduce costs, there are continuedefforts to decentralise seedling production anddistribution to community levels through groups or centralnurseries organized in schools, camps belonging tocommunity chiefs and privately managed nurseries.In the past, group nurseries often did not survive pastthe group formation or project support stage. Centralnurseries, also, were sometimes abandoned when fundingpriorities changed. Yet, there are success stories andmany farmers continue to be effectively reached throughsuch nurseries. Certain group nurseries, for instance,were left under the management of a single individualyet continue to supply seedlings to the community.Privately owned nurseries, in contrast, have been ableto survive for longer periods, albeit with little supportfrom developmental organizations. Depending on theoperating scenario, all three types (group, central andprivate) are feasible seedling supply alternatives and canevolve along with the awareness and tree planting cultureof the community.