"Out of this nettle danger,
We pluck this flower, safety,"
Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I.
The single greatest threat to biodiversity today, is the exponential growth in the numbers of the most successful species on earth, Homo sapiens. The sum of the environmental impacts, such as pollution and habitat destruction, which threaten this fragile planet, all have their origin in a burgeoning human population.
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Countless arguments have been made for the absolute necessity of preserving biodiversity, ironically enough, to preserve and improve the well-being of this very same humankind, which is biodiversity's greatest threat. The double irony is that humankind possesses both the technology and the ability to preserve the current, observed diversity, and to even increase the surface areas where this diversity can be preserved. Human ingenuity has provided antibiotics, anaesthetics and warm houses to prolong and protect life, security of food supply, and transport mechanisms: it has even placed a man on the moon.
It is estimated that by 2025 there will be 2.3 billion extra people on the planet, and they will need feeding. Ploughing up existing, pristine, wildernesses to feed these extra people is no option. Organic farming can also be eliminated as a meaningful solution, although the principles behind it may provide a part of the solution. Organic farmers rely ultimately and only on soil nitrogen fixation to provide the essential nitrate and ammonia for crop growth and yield. Rainwater provides the other minerals. Since the maximum yields of fixed nitrogen have been measured numerous times we can estimate that by putting another 750 million ha of wilderness to the plough (and decimating the diversity there), the estimated increase in population by 2025, might just be fed. However, it seems unlikely that the global demographic transition will be completed by 2025, so additional food resources will be required. Yet, there is limited land on which to produce food without further destroying the important forests and wilderness areas that produce life-giving oxygen, cleanse our air, protect and sustain biodiversity, and assure that groundwater enters the underground stores sufficiently purified to be suitable for human consumption. If humankind wishes to preserve and extend existing pristine habitats, the only solution is to increase the productivity of existing agricultural land.
Agricultural applications of biotechnology provides humankind with hope. Biotechnological applications can increase food and fibre productions of currently used agricultural lands. The application of this technology is particularly valuable in Africa and other developing regions, where food shortages occur regularly, and also where, it may be argued, that most biodiversity still occurs, due to lack of industrialization. Biotechnology in agriculture provides environmentally friendly solutions for the demands of increasing populations. Biotechnology is already providing increased yields, better insect protection, reduced fungal toxins in food and more efficient weed control; all delivered in the seeds of genetically improved crops. This obviates the need for pesticides and "slash and burn" practices, all of which have a negative effect on biodiversity. Within farm fields, life is returning. Birds are nesting in cotton fields, frogs are being seen in increasing numbers, and non-target insects are also increasing. Even the flurry over the Monarch butterfly has been capped by record numbers on migration last year and over 15 laboratories have shown the original Monarch fears to be groundless. Current biotechnology applications in agriculture are already reducing the impact of monocultures on biodiversity, while simultaneously improving productivity.
In the future, biotechnology will be capable of delivering health products in the food humans eat. Within five years, vaccines against the killer E.coli, hepatitis B, cholera and other diseases will all come in genetically improved food. These vaccines will be very stable, be easily distributed world-wide, need no refrigeration or injection; merely consumption.
And what of agriculture in the future?
Current agricultural practice tends to destroy biodiversity, yet without it, humankind will not survive into the 21st century. Preserving both biodiversity and sustaining humankind will place special duties and responsibilities on the 21st century farmer, irrespective of the scale of his operation. Whether large scale, commercial or small holder, he will be required to use his intelligence to integrate crop rotation, pest management, and reduced tillage practices …together with the biotechnology offering to provide humankind with the food it needs, and simultaneously preserve desperately needed biodiversity. Without new technologies like genetically improved crops, drastic reductions in biodiversity will occur, and humankind's achievements will count for nought.
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