Implications and Challenges of Emerging Technologies for Rural Development: Focus on Agriculture

1. Implications and Challenges of Emerging Technologies for Rural Development: Focus on Agriculture IMI Workshop: What are the Innovation Challenges for Rural Development? Casa San Bernardo, Rome 15-17 November 2005 Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group

2. Terminator Technology

3. The Gene Giants

4. The Gene Giants Seek New Seed Markets in the South The Gene Giants Seek New Seed Markets in the South • Commercial seed market worldwide = ~US $21,000 million • Estimate of total seed market including farmer-saved seed and state-run seed programs = ~US $45,000 million

5. Over 1.4 billion people in the South depend on farm-saved seeds as their primary seed source.Three-quarters of the world’s farmers routinely save seed from their harvest and exchange seed with their farm neighbors.Seed selection and community plant breeding are the foundation for local food security.

6. “Greenwashing” of Terminator Technology: “If all transgenic varieties [incorporated terminator technology] they would not be able to spread into the environment and, therefore, biosafety would be ensured without cumbersome administrative procedures, such as those proposed in the framework of the Biosafety Protocol.” -- from a position paper on the benefits of seed sterilization, written by the International Seed Federation

7. Terminator Technology is on the agenda at CBD/COP8 in Paraná, Brazil, March 2006 New campaign to ban Terminator Technology: www.banterminator.org

8. 1 Nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter

9. “Quantum dots:” Nano-scale size-dependent color changes

10. The Periodic Table of Elements

12. An estimated 700 nano-products on the market, including: • Stain-resistant fabrics (NanoTex) • Anti-bacterial wound dressings, nano-silver (Smith & Nephew) • Transparent sunscreens and cosmetics, nano- TiO2 and ZnO (L’Oréal) • Self-cleaning windows, nano-TiO2 (Pilkington) • Food additives (nano-carotenoids, BASF) • Pesticides (Syngenta) • Water-cleaning compounds (Altair)

13. “Specifically we recommend as a precautionary measure that factories and research laboratories treat manufactured nanoparticles and nanotubes as if they were hazardous and reduce them in waste streams and that the use of free nanoparticles in environmental applications such as remediation of groundwater be prohibited.” Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), July 2004

14. “Just as the British Industrial Revolution knocked handspinners and handweavers out of business, nanotechnology will disrupt a slew of multi-billion dollar companies and industries.” Lux Research, Inc.,The Nanotech Report 2004

15. Commodity Roulette: Agriculture (1) Rubber: 8.6 million tonnes of natural rubber were produced in 2004, reflecting a market value of $11.6 thousand million. 79% of all natural rubber was produced in Southeast Asia in 2004. The tire industry is designing nano-composites that could extend the life of car tires by as much as 50%. Completely new materials could replace rubber altogether, dramatically diminishing the demand for natural rubber.

16. Source: International Rubber Study Group; S. E. Asia = Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam

17. Commodity Roulette: Agriculture (2) Natural fibres (e.g.,cotton) and the farmers who grow them, are also vulnerable. Will nanotech be used to mimic the texture and properties of natural fibres like cotton and silk? If so, will some natural fibres become obsolete with the development of new nano-inspired fibres? Or will stain-resistant enhancements intended for niche fabrics like silk result in increased demand? How will longer-lasting, stain-resistant fabrics affect levels of consumption? What will nanotech’s fibres mean for the 100 million families engaged in cotton production worldwide?

18. Cotton is grown in over 100 countries – including 35 in Africa. Cotton is a critical export earner for many commodity dependent developing countries. Cotton accounts for: • 39% of Burkina Faso’s exports • 37% of Chad’s exports • 33% of Benin’s exports • Cotton’s market value (in 2003): • $24,000 million,

19. The point is not that the status quo should be preserved – but that society and governments are ill-prepared.

20. National economies and the workers who depend on primary export commodities will be out of luck and livelihood, resulting in increased poverty and political instability – at least in the short-term. Worker-displacement brought on by commodity-obsolescence will hurt the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly those workers in the Global South who don’t have the economic flexibility to respond to sudden demands for new skills or different raw materials.The disruptions won’t be nano-sized or incremental, and not easily addressed by re-training workers or social safety-nets that may be non-existent in many poor countries.

21. If current trends continue, nano-scale technologies will further concentrate economic power in the hands of multinational corporations and widen the gap between rich and poor.

22. www.etcgroup.org