|
IFPRI Seminar: Author of Doubly Green Revolution Calls for Global Forum on Biotechnology
 |
|
Gordon Conway, president, Rockefeller Foundation
|
While visiting IFPRI on May 18, Gordon Conway, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation and author of the recently released U.S. edition of the book, The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the 21st Century, emphasized the need for a global forum to address the potential benefits and risks of biotechnology. He believes that such a forum is necessary to calm the increasingly passionate and sometimes self-defeating rhetoric that is polarizing this important debate. Conway spoke on this controversial subject, as well as other, broader topics he has written about in his book, at an IFPRI policy seminar. At a luncheon preceding the seminar, Conway spoke informally with members of the Washington press corps about his perspectives on trends in agricultural and environmental policies around the world.
Conway also came out in favor of labeling food products—particularly for the European market—not because genetically modified foods are inherently dangerous, but rather because people have a “right to know” what they purchase and consume. As an example of consumers’ willingness to accept some of the unknowns of genetic modification for the proven benefits the technology offers, Conway cited the more than 100 pharmaceutical products that come from genetically modified organisms that are in wide use.
The main focus of Conway’s talk, however, was the primary topic of his book: how we can feed the 800 million people who are hungry in the world, including the 180 million underweight children who, even when they survive, run the risk of living a life of undernourishment and poverty. This eminent scientist referred to IFPRI’s research in the area of food projections, which suggest a growing “food gap” in the developing world. This gap—the difference between production and demand for food—could more than double during the next 25 years, increasing the developing world’s dependence on imports from the developed world. According to Conway, this dependence will only exacerbate hunger and poverty in the developing world.
While the original Green Revolution helped develop new technologies for farmers that led to an abundance of food in some areas, Conway emphasized the need for a “doubly green revolution,” which stresses conservation as well as productivity. As an ecologist who was a pioneer in developing successful integrated pest management plans in Malaysia in the 1960s, Conway has firsthand knowledge of what can work in developing countries.
“It is very important,” he said, “for the new Green Revolution to start with the socioeconomic needs at the household level, and then use this information to develop research priorities, instead of the other way around.” Conway also cited Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s research on the importance of educating and employing women for bringing down birth rates, and he cited successful efforts in this area in northern Thailand. Enhancing opportunities for women in the developing world is critical for lifting millions out of hunger and poverty, according to The Doubly Green Revolution.
Conway said that ultimately, carefully managed biotechnology, employment of sound ecological principles, and increased farmer participation in the development of new technologies—as well as other innovative strategies for dealing with local problems—are all interdependent issues that need to be addressed holistically. The Doubly Green Revolution is available from Cornell University Press. To obtain copies, write to CUP Services, 750 Cascadilla Street, P. O. Box 6525, Ithaca, NY 14851 (Tel: 607-277-2211; Fax: 607-277-6292).
|
