Biotechnology and biodiversity in Africa
Though biotechnology is most often seen as a tool to meet Africa’s food needs, it could also play a role in protecting the continent’s unique biodiversity.
Ugandan environmental activist, geneticist and conservation biologist Clet Wandui asserts that biotechnology has in fact helped to preserve and protect Africa’s biodiversity, a term that refers to the number of different species that are present in a given location, along with the numbers of individuals in each species and genetic variability within the species.
“Actually, biotechnology has come to save biodiversity,” Wandui told this writer. “If you look scientifically at the drivers of biodiversity loss, there is nowhere biotechnology comes in.”
He says that, broadly, biotechnology has been instrumental in increasing yields, reduci...