Abstract

The maintenance and use of biological diversity in agriculture are explored through a futuristic scenario. The scenario is structured to examine some of the underlying technical and political issues surrounding the commercialization of biotechnology, such as the issues of equity in the control over genetic resources and the increased potential for genetic vulnerability of major crops. The expansion in intellectual property laws and the “Great Blight” of 2005 lead the discussion of crop vulnerability. The loss of species through mass extinction by 2005 and the destruction through fire of the National Germplasm Storage Facility (NGSF) in 1991 raise issues about the dichotomy between in-situand ex-situpreservation approaches. The scenario introduces the possibility of a Gene Clone public libraries and a World System and Treaty for Genetic Resources