GENOMICS & RACIAL-ETHNIC DIVERSITY

GENOMICS & RACIAL-ETHNIC DIVERSITY

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Genetic research & development (R&D) has gone a very long way since the time of theorizations of the same in the 19^th century. Genetics applied to human health had benefited immensely from genomics, albeit the samples utilized for the studies were largely of European (White) descent.

Conclusions generated from largely fixed samples raise questions regarding the overall generalizability of the findings. This is where the wisdom of Weber and hermeneutics comes in: treat human subjects as unique, special cases of studies, science isn’t about generalizations but about idiographic peculiarities of communities or ethnicities studied.

Today, the issue of racial and ethnic differences in genomics is a reverberating one. Experts are beginning to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding the matter, and are breaking down conventional positivist practices in R & D towards more idiographic-bent research. Hopefully genomics will catch up with the other sciences, notably cultural sciences, in showing the ramifications of ethnic-racial factors behind certain ailments.

Below is a relevant report from scientific circles about genomics.

[Philippines, 06 September 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/genomics-must-reflect-racial-and-ethnic-diversity-1.html

Genomics must reflect racial and ethnic diversity

20 July 2011 | EN | ES

People with Native South American ancestry have a protein variant associated with type 2 diabetes — but genomics research overlooks ethnic groups

Geneticists must develop methods, resources and incentives for including a broader range of populations in medical genomics research to ensure that those most in need are not the last to benefit, say Carlos D. Bustamante, Esteban González Burchard and Francisco M. De La Vega.

Genome-wide association studies have dramatically improved our understanding of chronic diseases, yet 96 per cent of the people studied are of European descent. This trend is set to continue in future research, say the authors.

Early research suggests that results based on one population may not always apply to another — versions of a gene associated with a disease may occur with different frequency in different ethnic groups, for example, or may be missing entirely. So genome studies run the risk of excluding racial and ethnic minorities from the benefits that may result from such research, argue the authors.

But diversifying the study populations would reduce the likelihood of finding a statistical link between a genetic factor and a disease — making researchers reluctant to do it.

Empowering scientists in the developing world to conduct home-grown genomics research is one way of making sure that diverse populations are included, say the authors. Collaboration between countries will be key to funding and technology transfer, which will help boost genomics studies globally. This should involve providing local expertise, resources and insight into the population's history.

New statistical methods will also help to tease apart the contribution of genetic, socio-cultural and environmental factors to chronic and infectious diseases. Peer reviewers and granting bodies also need "to stress the importance of racial and ethnic diversity in medical genetic studies".

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COMMERCIALIZING BIODIVERSITY IN COLOMBIA

COMMERCIALIZING BIODIVERSITY IN COLOMBIA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Should biodiversity be commercialized? What are the stakes in commercialization? What are the costs, and who pay for them?

Colombia is home to 10% of the world’s biodiversity, a resource that its stakeholders wish to leverage in the market. Such an option comes at a time when biotechnology had grown to such a level that can aid biodiversity in sustaining itself.

Below is a summary report on the recent updates in Colombia’s biodiversity initiatives.

[Philippines, 16 July 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/colombia-to-commercialise-its-biodiversity.html

Colombia to commercialise its biodiversity

Lisbeth Fog

6 July 2011

[BOGOTÁ] Colombia has approved a policy that will map out plans for sustainable commercial use of its rich biodiversity resources, mainly through the development of biotechnology research.

The policy, approved by the government last month (14 June), includes plans to set up a national company for bioprospecting to link up with the commercial sector. It will be backed with US$14 million in government funds over the next four years.

Colombia's goal is to enable the development of industries and products based on the sustainable use of its biodiversity. The country is home to ten per cent of the world's known biodiversity.

The new policy should reduce the bottleneck created by the current regulations on access to genetic resources, Mauricio Rodríguez, manager of the biotechnology programme at the National Department for Science, Technology and Innovation and co-author of the document, told SciDev.Net. He said that new, more efficient regulations based on the policy will be ready in a month.

Juan Lucas Restrepo, director of the Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research, a public research institute, welcomed the policy. He said the current legislation on access and benefit-sharing is not working adequately.

But Fernando Casas, a Colombian economist and a co-chair of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Nagoya Protocol, said it would be difficult to adapt this policy to the existing Andean Community of Nations agreement to which Colombia is a signatory.

The Andean agreement stresses sustainable conservation and the importance of recognising benefit-sharing with indigenous and local people, while the Colombian one stresses the importance of commercialising biodiversity through biotechnology research.

Some Colombian scientists have also said that the main obstacles in research on biodiversity resources are bureaucracy and lack of expertise within the Ministry of Environment — which are not addressed in this policy. This leads to delayed decisions in approval of licenses to get access to genetic resources.

Casas welcomed the policy as overdue but said it does not advance the three goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity — conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from using genetic resources.

He also warned that the document does not analyse the policy's possible effects on Colombia's Free Trade Agreement with United States, which has been in negotiation for years, especially with regards to its impact on intellectual property.

Link to full policy document (in Spanish)

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION INITIATIVES

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION INITIATIVES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

11 developing countries, including emerging markets, have just taken off with their respective programs as impetus for biodiversity conservation.

It has been a daunting task, since the advent of modernity, to return to biodiversity in farming practices. Modern food production celebrated the specialized land-use and high-yield mono-crop varieties at the expense of natural soil fertility offered by biodiversity.

A return to time-honored traditional practices in farming and eco-management is today’s sine qua non to effective environmental balancing acts. Incidentally, there are models around the world to emulate concerning biodiversity in food production.

Below is a report on the joint initiative of Japan and the UNDP concerning biodiversity conservation.

[Philippines, 10 July 2011]

http://www.beta.undp.org/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2011/06/27/japan-undp-team-up-for-local-biodiversity-conservation.html

Japan, UNDP team up for local biodiversity conservation

27 June 2011

Communities in 11 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe are to receive small grants to put into practice biodiversity-friendly natural resource management and farming systems.

Rural communities in Brazil, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Fiji, India, Malawi, Nepal, Slovakia and Turkey will recapture and apply time-honoured agro-ecological practices, learn new techniques and exchange knowledge on traditional farming systems and the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources.

The Satoyama Initiative, adopted at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is named after the traditional landscape resulting from application of a suite of traditional, sustainable resource management practices perfected over centuries by communities in Japan. This mosaic of mixed forests, rice paddies, upland rice fields, grasslands, streams and ponds is called “satoyama”. The variety of habitats ensures higher numbers of species, and the farming systems themselves conserve crop diversity, water and soil fertility, while stabilizing income and food security.

Today, the Government of Japan and UNDP launched the partnership agreement to promote the Satoyama vision and practices in selected countries.

“Working in 176 countries and territories, we learned that local communities have developed often unique ways of farming and use of resources that provide food and livelihood without damaging the environment,” said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator.

“We’re grateful to the Government of Japan for their continued support to the interlinked challenges of poverty, biodiversity, and climate change at the time of their own recovery from the devastating tsunami.”

This five-year partnership programme for Satoyama Initiative provides US$2 million through the Convention’s Japan Biodiversity Fund to support communities during the first year to implement best practices and share knowledge.

“Japan recognizes the significance of local knowledge for resource management and farming in the international effort to ensure environmental sustainability. This collaboration is the flagship programme of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative,” said Ryu Matsumoto, Minister of Environment of Japan.

Small grants for community-based projects will be disbursed through the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme and other UNDP-supported small grants schemes.

The CBD Secretariat will work with UNDP to analyze the impacts of Satoyama activities and use this knowledge to feed the current international policy debate with respect to the Biodiversity Convention. UNDP, with the United Nations University, will use the lessons from this programme to replicate and upscale successful experiences to other communities around the world.

Prior to collaborating on the Satoyama Initiative, Japan and UNDP have partnered on a number of initiatives, for example, the Africa Adaptation Programme, which supports 20 African countries to adapt to climate change and embark on low-emission, climate-resilient development paths.

UNDP will continue to advocate the use of sustainability strategies in the fight against biodiversity loss, climate change and poverty at next year’s major international conferences, including Rio+20, to be held in Brazil in June and Biodiversity COP11 in India.

Contact Information

Stanislav Saling
stanislav.saling@undp.org
+1 212 9065296

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PHILIPPINES’ ORGANIC ISLAND SURGING AHEAD

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Good morning from Manila!

If there is any thought that the islanders of Negros would want themselves to be known the world over, it is their being dubbed as the “Philippines’ organic island.” And rightly so, for they have, under the initiative of the governors of the island, been moving heaven and earth to get the entire island towards that goal since 2005 yet.

The provinces of Negros Occidental (West) and Negros Oriental (West) concurred over the idea around three (3) years ago today, to transform the entire island into an organic paradise. The island used to be almost exclusively planted to sugar, a pattern that had since been modified towards multi-crop and biodiversity enterprises. For sure, the organic initiative will lead the entire island towards biodiversity, even as it has become common policy in the two provinces to see to it that both farms and backyards (including middle class village homes) should cultivate plants.

I was privileged to be invited as a major guess speaker by the province of Negros and partner NGOs in 2005 on the occasion of the launching of the organic island project. I just concluded a book on fair trade & food security then for the KAISAMPALAD, the national NGO council for fair trade & food security, when I got the invitation to share notes about food security to the people of Negros. I found the enthusiasm of the people for the project very high, it was indubitably a very popular movement since even the radical groups there were enthusiastically involved.

I couldn’t forget that event as the organizers timed it with the Mascara Festival of Bacolod City/Negros Occidental. The pageant night, when the Miss Bacolod was chosen, was truly an enchanting night of performances by artists who were wearing the classic mask designs for that occasion, coupled with pyrotechnics and band performances. The occasion catapulted the organic movement to euphoric heights!

The news item below indicates that the organic initiative has been surging ahead, as local counterpart funding for its growth phase has been moving up too. May this organic experience light up the other islands of the blessed Republic so as to make the archipelago green again.

[13 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to yahoo.com database news.]

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MANILA, Philippines - Negros Oriental province has earmarked an initial P3 million for popularization of the use of organic fertilizer in the province, an online news site reported.

Visayan Daily Star reported that NegOrganic NOW (Nutrients Of Worms) program is gaining headway through verme composting.

Provincial agriculturist Gregorio Paltinca also said the program is promoting the production of natural fermented solution.

He said trainings and seminars are being conducted for farmer beneficiaries before they are given 500 grams of worms.

But he stressed this is not a dole-out, as the recipient-farmer has to return what is given to him after six months, to be distributed to other farmers.

Government hopes to provide all farmers in the province with the needed worms and technology to produce organic fertilizer.

Paltinca said organic farming has been proven to increase the farmers' yields, produce chemical-free vegetables and other farm products, as well as good for the environment.

Meanwhile, Gov. Emilio Macias II ordered Paltinca to come up with a time frame for the production of organic fertilizer. - GMANews.TV