Tomorrow's Biodiversity

It is received wisdom for today's politicians and scientists that the only way to produce enough food for a growing global population is to clear and claim more land for agriculture, to specialize in certain high-yield crops, and to utilize every chemical and technological aid, including genetic engineering, to promote growth. This is also highly profitable for the multinational companies who produce the fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs for agribusiness.For Vandana Shiva, this is a recipe for disaster. A world in which nature's own abundance -- the infinite variety of species, or "biodiversity" -- is allowed full range is the only world that can offer either hope or safety. Over-dependence on a limited number of crops is unwise. Genetic engineering may bring with it hazards impossible to predict and impossible to reverse. Among the most obvious of the sad consequences of biotechnology in the West is the threat to so many songbird species, but there are other less apparent dangers in depleting the diversity of the gene pool, most important the loss of genetic material to help sustain the complex environmental balance of our planet.