Application of Biotechnology Towards

Sustainable Development

By

Dr. Manju Sharma8th September, 2006

At Tokyo2nd ASIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FORUM

World today, particularly the developing countries are facing biggest challenge of sustaining economic growth without destroying the environment with the overwhelming population pressure, population growth rate by atleast 2%; the urgency for:

Doubling the world food productionPoverty alleviationCombating malnutritionCuring and detecting dreadful diseasesGenerating employment opportunities

One of the major Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations is to reduce by half, the number of people living in poverty by 2015. It is estimated that 1.3 billion world population lives in severe poverty conditions. About 800 million people do not get enough food and 500 million suffer from malnutrition.

Stockholm Conference on Environment and Development in 1974 brought out that poverty is one of the greatest pollutants and is the burning cause of environmental pollution.

ChallengesChallenges

Attaining a sustainable development to fulfill the basic minimum needs of the people is the greatest challenge facing the countries. While problems are enormous, they are not insurmountable.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTWorld Commission on Environment and Development in the publication “Our Common Future” defined sustainable development as:

“Development which meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

More working definition- ability of one generation to build without compromising any future generations ability to do so.

ENVIRONMENTThe main components-

Climate change

An area of concern to the global community; the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change in its report in 2001 concluded that global warming would be in the range of 1.4°C to 5.8°C by 2100. It is predicted that this may be the warmest period on the Planet Earth which may last for more than 100,000 years.

Impact of global warming has serious consequences and has been referred to as “Weapons of Mass Destruction”

Sea level rise, floods, droughts, hurricanes etc.

In 2005, the estimated damage due to Katrina was 1.7% of US GDP.

BiodiversityBiodiversity

Biodiversity is the totality of genes, species and ecosystems in a region and can also be defined as variety and variability of size. The world today is experiencing a severe loss of biodiversity. Proper characterization, collection and conservation is gaining significance in view of the tremendous potential offered by the richness of biological resources. Biological diversity is increasingly being recognized as a vital parameter to assess global and local environmental change and sustainability of developmental activities.

Agricultural diversity goes hand in hand with cultural diversity as the ethnic tribes play an important role in assortment of plant varieties. The plains owe an enormous debt to the mountains for conserving biodiversity. Mountains also continue to create new biodiversity as wild and cultivated varieties grow side by side resulting in cross fertilization and increased biodiversity. The loss of ecosystems for instance- wetlands which provide critical ecological services such as flood control, fish production and pollutant assimilation is a direct economic cost as well as a threat to species survival. Erosion of biodiversity also destroys opportunities for recreation and nature tourism.

Global Biodiversity Assessment (UNEP 1995) estimates the total number of species to be between 13 and 14 million. It further records that so far only 1.75 million species have been described. Scientists estimate that a unicellular organism has genes ranging between a hundred to a few hundreds. The enormity of magnitude of genetic diversity harbored by 13-14 million species would seem to be beyond simple imagination.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, then in Rio where about 188 countries signed the Convention on Biological Diversity had agreed with a target “A significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010”Vigorous efforts are on in the world.

As beautifully described by Peter Raven and Johnson in the 4th edition of Biology:

“Plant kingdom is astonishingly diverse, occupying in a variety of ingenious ways all except the most extreme terrestrial biomass.”

Loss of biodiversity has serious economic and social costs for any country. Distribution and magnitude of biodiversity that exists today is a result of over 3.5 billion years of evolution, involving speciation, migration and extinction.

Biodiversity has direct consumptive value in agriculture, medicine and industry. Approximately 80,000 edible plants have been used at one time or another in human history, of which only about 150 have been cultivated on a large scale. About 45,000 plant species, which constitute 12% of the global plant wealth, are found in India.

Declining genetic diversity is also costly in agriculture. In 1991, the genetic similarity of Brazil's orange trees opened the way for the worst outbreak of citrus canker ever recorded in that country. In 1970, US farmers lost one billion dollars to a disease that swept through uniformly susceptible corn varieties. Similarly, the Irish potato famine of 1846, the Soviet wheat crop loss in 1972 and the citrus canker outbreak in Florida in 1984 all stemmed from reductions in genetic diversity. 75% of genetic diversity of agricultural crops has already been lost since the beginning of this century.

Habitat loss and fragmentation leading to the formation of isolated, small, scattered populations is one significant obstacle. These small populations have become increasingly vulnerable to inbreeding depression, high infant mortality, susceptibility to environmental stochasticity, and, in the long run, possible extinction.

Changes in forest composition and quality and, in turn, habitat type lead to declines in primary food species for wildlife. Poaching is another insidious threat that has emerged in recent years as one of the primary reasons for extinction of species such as the tiger. Poaching pressures, however, are unevenly distributed since certain selected species are more heavily targeted than others. Population pressures and concomitant increases in the collection of fuel wood and fodder, and grazing in forests by local communities also take their toll on the forests and consequently its biodiversity.

In a review on ‘Assessing ecosystem health’, D.J. Rapport from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences University of Guelph, Canada and others state:

“Evaluating ecosystem health in relation to the ecological, economic and human health spheres requires integrating human values with biophysical processes, an integration that has been explicitly avoided by conventional science. The field is advancing with the articulation of the linkages between human activity, regional and global environmental change, reduction in ecological services and the consequences for human health, economic opportunity and human communities. Increasing our understanding of these interactions will involve more active collaboration between the ecological, social and health sciences. In this, ecologists will have substantive and catalytic roles.”

How to attain these objectives?How to attain these objectives?

Scientific and technological interventions absolutely critical

BIOTECHNOLOGY

An inter-disciplinary field of science with its powerful tools of genome technology, genetic engineering, protein engineering, structural biology and many other areas for product, process and technology improvement and development.

Biotechnology is an eco-friendly technology.

Strong link between biotechnology and biodiversity established.

The field of biotechnology with its innovativeness and relevance can become the most powerful tool for development and application of bioresources. In the exciting words of James Watson (in the TIME magazine on 20th March 1989) he said:

“We used to think our fate was in our stars. Now we know, in large measure our fate is in our genes.”

Successful use of biotechnology with significant impact on the economy and social scenario in the world has been in the areas:

AgricultureHealthEnvironmentEnergy availabilityLivelihood of the people

Bioprospecting of the Biodiversity :Bioprospecting of the Biodiversity :

This process begins in the wild or nature with scientific interventions, products and services are generated before finally returning the economic benefits back again to the wild. Thus plants and their genetic material have been viewed as ‘Green Gold”.

The underlying biotechnologies behind harvesting the Green Gold are:

The Culture technology which functions at the cellular level and involves regenerating entire plants from protoplasts, single cells, tissues, organs or embryos.The Genetic transfer technology that involves functions at the sub-cellular level and involves the transfer of or a few known and useful genes with desired traits between cells of different species.

Bioprospecting and AgricultureBioprospecting and Agriculture

Sustainability of agriculture production will depend largely on making the most out of intraspecific genetic variability, soil management, and agricultural practices that expedite adaptation of cultivated species. And yet the utilization rates of genetic resources for breeding purposes are far from optimal.

The Agriculture-biotechnology revolution is in its first and experimental stage : the 1st commercial genetically modified (GM) crop were grown in China in 1992 and large scale adoption in the USA only began in 1996. Within the USA the speed of GM crop adoption is spectacular. By June 2000, 61% of cotton, 54% soybeans and 25% of corn were grown from GM seeds. Globally, however this is still a highly localized phenomenon. The recent estimates are 81 million hac. under transgenics.

It is the bioprospecting of genes which has been responsible for the most significant, revolutionary technological development in agriculture in the recent times “The Genetically Modified Foods”.

Biological fertilizers are environment friendly bioinocculants. Long-term hazards of continuous use of chemical fertilizers.More acceptable is naturally organic productsSpecial application of naturally occurring native species of Bacillus and Pseudomonas.

Bioprospecting and Health CareBioprospecting and Health Care

Until 1940 steroids for medical use could only be obtained from animal sources. Tons of pig ovaries, bull testes and pregnant mare urine had to be processed to obtain a few doses. As the market requirement increased, search began for an alternative source of raw material.

75% of world population relies on plants for treating illness/ disease.25% of US pharmaceuticals market from plant derived compounds, including state of the art drugs e.g. taxolonly 2% of the >250,000 plant species have been extensively evaluated as therapeutics.Unparalleled diversity of complex, novel molecular structures.

According to SCOPE publication by Paul Epstein on ‘Biodiversity, Health and the Environment’, “Biodiversity affects three different phenomena which interact with each other and affect the health of humankind. These are: (1) Biodiversity is related to the ability of ecosystem to provide services such as clean water, food, detoxification, and nutrient recycling that in turn affect human health or human resistance to disease. (2) Biodiversity affects the spread of infectious diseases in the wild and human-dominated environments and the rate at which humans or wildlife are infected. (3) Biodiversity is related to the ability of ecosystems to provide new drugs and treatments and maintain the supply of the ones currently in use. Finally, we explore how changes in health status and human well-being may in turn alter their behaviour and their impact on biodiversity.

Bioprospecting and Bioprospecting and NutraceuticalsNutraceuticals

As medicine and nutrition blend together, many products can be sold as nutraceuticals. In future, a customer walking into a supermarket would face not two but various types of corn that could, for example, help prevent osteoporosis or conception or provide extra vitamins.

Microbial ResourcesMicrobial Resources

The paper entitled ‘Microbial biodiversity: a new voyage of discovery’ by Rafael Vicuña (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) has explained the original two kingdoms of biosphere namely, animals and plants now being extended to five kingdoms i.e. animals, plants, fungi, protests and monera (bacteria).

PollutionPollution

Effluents from our industrial establishments like the lead and zinc works, tanneries, breweries, paper mills, gas plants and mines, add their share of pollutants to the air, water and atmosphere.

Success StoriesSuccess Stories

Development of Biosensors; Kits;Microbial consortia for bioremediation;Prospecting of biological resources and new gene technologies.

Barren Manganese Mine Spoil Dump

Revegetated Lush Green Forest on Manganese Mine Spoil Dump at Gumgaon, Nagpur under MOIL (Six year-old

Plantation)

Ecology Restoration of Manganese Spoil Dump at Gumgaon (MOIL)

Barren Iron Mine Spoil Dump

Revegetated Iron Mine Spoil Dump at Codli Mine,

Sesa Goa Ltd., Goa (Three year-old plantation)

Barren Copper Mine at Barren Copper Mine at Hindustan Copper Ltd. Hindustan Copper Ltd. MalanjkhandMalanjkhand

RevegetatedRevegetated Copper Mine Copper Mine at Hindustan Copper Ltd. at Hindustan Copper Ltd.

MalanjkhandMalanjkhand

Biotechnological interventions for water security constitute a very important aspect of environmental biotechnology. We all understand that water is the second most important nutrient of our life after oxygen. All the agriculture based countries are depending on water supply. Also, use of pesticides for agriculture pests is connected with the water. Through the soil water, the pesticides too get accumulated in the human water and can be hazardous.

According to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the water scarcity study shows the following presumptions by 2025:

Nearly one-third of the world’s population would live in regions having severe water scarcity. One-third of the population of India (464 million people) will live in regions that would face absolute water scarcity.

The world’s primary water supply would need to increase by 22% to meet the needs of all sectors in 2025.

More irrigation water (17%) would be needed for the world to feed itself in 2025.

LegislationLegislation

Two international agreements, namely:i)Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Provisions (TRIPS)

ii) Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD)with the common theme of sharing benefits and knowledge

To Conclude

Today merely 10 to 20 plant species provide 80-90% food requirements of the world. In India, rural communities, particularly the tribals obtain considerable part of their daily food from wild plants. At one time, nearly all medicines were derived from biological resources. Around 20,000 plant species are believed to be used for medicine in the developing world.

The crux for the sustainable utilization of biodiversity in agriculture or medicine is the identification and documentation of the bioresources. This is where the molecular taxonomist, a breed which is dying needs to be revived. The Convention for Biological Diversity, 1996 stated “At no time has there been a greater need for taxonomists than now, as the crises facing biodiversity escalates. Effective conservation, bioprospecting and sustainable use of biodiversity on a Global basis all require taxonomic decisions and expertise on a scale not presently available.”

Plant Tissue Culture has been viewed as a key technology for enhancing the capability for production of large quantities of planting material of selected, elite high yielding varieties so as to boost production and productivity and to conserve the fast diminishing species.

It has been estimated that scientists effectively employ only 2% of the approximately 2.5 million accessions of plant species conserved in germplasm banks worldwide in the development of new varieties. The main cause for this low rate is the lack of information or its uneven distribution among potential users. In particular, it is clear that biotechnological approaches, such as the use of molecular markers and rapid screening methods will permit an increase in the rate of utilization of genetic resources for breeding purposes so as to the needs of agriculture.

Biodiversity is regarded as the feed-stock of biotech industry. It is a sunrise industry and can generate employment for both for grassroots and educated population. It is knowledge intensive. Needs technological empowerment of human resource.Critical investment needed to obtain low cost, affordable, environment friendly, technologies and products.

Biotechnological advances and spectacular discoveries can today offer many solutions to the problem of environment while addressing the basic minimum needs of humankind. Application of biotechnology would thus ensure environmentally sustainable development in harmony with nature and ensure the food, nutrition, health, ecological and livelihood securities of all humankinds.