Market-mediated responses confound policies to limit deforestation from oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The global demand for palm oil has grown rapidly over the past several decades. Much of the output expansion has occurred in carbon- and biodiversity-rich forest lands of Malaysia and Indonesia (M&I), contributing to record levels of terrestrial carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. This has led to a variety of voluntary and mandatory regulatory actions, as well as calls for limits on palm oil imports from M&I. This paper offers a comprehensive, global assessment of the economic and environmental consequences of alternative policies aimed at limiting deforestation from oil palm expansion in M&I. It highlights the challenges of limiting forest and biodiversity loss in the presence of market-mediated spillovers into related oilseed and agricultural commodity and factor markets, both in M&I and overseas. Indeed, limiting palm oil production or consumption is unlikely to halt deforestation in M&I in the absence of active forest conservation incentives. Policies aimed at restricting palm oil production in M&I also have broader consequences for the economy, including significant impacts on consumer prices, real wages, and welfare, that vary among different global regions. A crucial distinction is whether the initiative is undertaken domestically, in which case the M&I region could benefit, or by major palm oil importers, in which case M&I loses income. Nonetheless, all policies considered here pass the social welfare test of global carbon dioxide mitigation benefits exceeding their costs.

Event DAS-444Ø6-6 soybean grown in Brazil is compositionally equivalent to non-transgenic soybean.

Soybean event DAS-444Ø6-6 is tolerant to the herbicides 2,4-D, glyphosate, and glufosinate. An investigation of potential unintended adverse compositional changes in a genetically modified crop is required to meet government regulatory requirements in various geographies. A study to meet these requirements in Brazil was completed demonstrating compositional equivalency between DAS-444Ø6-6 and non-transgenic soybean. This study supplements the extensive literature supporting transgenesis as less disruptive of crop composition compared with traditional breeding methods.

An overview of the current plant biostimulant legislations in different European Member States.

Plant biostimulants are borderline substances that play an intermediate role between plant protection products and fertilisers. At present, such substances are regulated by national laws and have different names in the various European Member States. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview on the activity of these substances and on the national laws that regulate them, as they vary considerably from one Member State to another. The greatest difficulty in terms of the correct regulatory framework for these substances is related to their heterogeneity. This situation creates uncertainties for operators, control authorities and bodies that certify and control the organic production, and strongly limits the growth of these substances. This problem will be overcome with the amendment of Regulation EC No 2003/2003 which will shortly extend its scope to the category of plant biostimulants included within the fertilising additives.

Basic substances: an opportunity for approval of low-concern substances under EU pesticide regulation.

Plant extracts and byproducts furnish various alternative products for crop protection and are traditionally used by farmers. However, the cost and timeframe for their registration as active substances are prohibitive for small companies and farmers' associations with the new Plant Protection Products (PPP) Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009. However, there is now a possibility of registering light compounds as 'basic substances', a new category described in Article 23 and in 'Whereas/Recital 18'. We developed a regulatory expertise on the approval of such products within the framework of the PPP regulation. A Draft Assessment Report in one volume was established, later transformed by EC Directorate into a Basic Substance Application Template, and subsequently used by the EC as a matrix for the corresponding Guidelines for applicants (SANCO 10363/2012 rev. 9). Here we provide further tools, consisting of methodological, linguistic and strategic recommendations in order to constitute a Basic Substance Application (BSA) and proceed to its registration. While the use of alternative agents for crop protection is increasing both in organic and conventional agriculture, these usages are still considered as 'minor uses'. Our approach and tools are valuable to non-PPP specialised applicants for simplifying and facilitating their submission of the BSA.

Water quality status and trends in agriculture-dominated headwaters; a national monitoring network for assessing the effectiveness of national and European manure legislation in The Netherlands.

Large nutrient losses to groundwater and surface waters are a major drawback of the highly productive agricultural sector in The Netherlands. The resulting high nutrient concentrations in water resources threaten their ecological, industrial, and recreational functions. To mitigate eutrophication problems, legislation on nutrient application in agriculture was enforced in 1986 in The Netherlands. The objective of this study was to evaluate this manure policy by assessing the water quality status and trends in agriculture-dominated headwaters. We used datasets from 5 agricultural test catchments and from 167 existing monitoring locations in agricultural headwaters. Trend analysis for these locations showed a fast reduction of nutrient concentrations after the enforcement of the manure legislation (median slopes of -0.55 mg/l per decade for total nitrogen (N-tot) and -0.020 mg/l per decade for total phosphorus (P-tot)). Still, up to 76 % of the selected locations currently do not comply with either the environmental quality standards (EQSs) for nitrogen (N-tot) or phosphorus (P-tot). This indicates that further improvement of agricultural water quality is needed. We observed that weather-related variations in nutrient concentrations strongly influence the compliance testing results, both for individual locations and for the aggregated results at the national scale. Another important finding is that testing compliance for nutrients based on summer average concentrations may underestimate the agricultural impact on ecosystem health. The focus on summer concentrations does not account for the environmental impact of high winter loads from agricultural headwaters towards downstream water bodies.

Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman: the overexploitation of a medicinal plant species and its legal context.

The linkage between herbal medicines and the sustainability of medical plants from which they are manufactured is increasingly being understood and receiving attention through international accords and trade labeling systems. However, little attention is paid to the fair trade aspects of this sector, including the issue of benefit-sharing agreements with traditional societies whose knowledge and resources are being exploited for commercial herbal medicine development and production. This article examines the case of Prunus africana (Hook.f.) Kalkman, from equatorial Africa. While the conservation and cultivation dimension of the trade in P. africana has been much discussed in literature, no research appears to have focused on the traditional resource rights and related ethical dimensions of this trade in traditional medicine of Africa. Serving as a cautionary tale for the unbridled exploitation of medicinal plants, the history of P. africana extraction is considered here in the context of relevant treaties and agreements existing today. These include the Nagoya Protocol, a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement from the World Trade Organization, and two African regional frameworks: the Swakopmund Protocol and the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle Initiative. In the context of strengthening medicinal plant research in Africa, a novel international capacity-building project on traditional medicines for better public health in Africa will be discussed, illustrating how access and benefit sharing principles might be incorporated in future projects on traditional medicines.

How can flexibility be integrated into coexistence regulations? A review.

Member states in the European Union (EU) implemented both ex ante coexistence regulations and ex post liability schemes to ensure that genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops can be cultivated side by side without excluding any agricultural option. Although proportionate coexistence is best achieved if regulated in a flexible manner, most implemented coexistence regulations merely rely on rigid measures. Flexible coexistence regulations, however, would reduce the regulatory burden on certain agricultural options and avoid jeopardizing economic incentives for coexistence. Flexibility can be integrated at: (i) the regulatory level by relaxing the rigidity of coexistence measures in ex ante regulations, yet without offsetting incentives to implement coexistence measures; (ii) the farm level by recommending the use of pollen barriers instead of large and fixed isolation distances; and (iii) the national/regional level by allowing diversified coexistence measures, which are adapted to the heterogeneity of farming in the EU. Owing to difficulties of implementation, the adoption of flexible and proportionate coexistence regulations will inevitably entail challenges.

Modelling the potential of slurry management technologies to reduce the constraints of environmental legislation on pig production.

Limits on land applications of slurry nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are used to restrict losses of nutrients caused by livestock production. Here, we used a model to assess technologies that enable a more even geographic distribution of slurry nutrients to land. Technologies included were screw press slurry separation, with or without solid fraction composting, centrifuge separation with or without liquid fraction ammonia (NH3) stripping, and anaerobic digestion. Regulatory constraints were placed first on the application in slurry of N, then P, then N and P both on the producing (donor) and receiving (recipient) farms. Finally, a constraint preventing an increase in donor farm NH3 emissions was imposed. Separation had little effect on N losses per unit mass of slurry, but NH3 stripping led to a reduction. Centrifuge separation allowed a greater increase in pig production than a screw press, especially with P regulation. NH3 stripping was only advantageous with N regulation or when combined with NH3 scrubbing of pig housing ventilation air, when donor farm NH3 emissions were a constraint. There was a production penalty for using composting or anaerobic digestion. The choice of appropriate slurry management option therefore depends on the focus of the regulation. Nuanced and therefore complex regulations are necessary to take advantage of synergies and avoid cross-policy conflicts and incongruencies.

Opiate use, treatment, and harm reduction in Afghanistan: recent changes and future directions.

Afghanistan leads global opium and cannabis production, amidst concerted efforts to improve the country's infrastructure. In this commentary, the evidence base for drivers of increased drug use in the context of deteriorating security is presented, government, donor, and civil society responses to date are described, and key areas for health policy response are summarized. Opiate use in Afghanistan shows disturbing trends: multiple substances are accessible at low cost and frequently used in combination, and injecting use has become more common. Pressures from both donor and governmental sectors have compromised innovations in programming. Further, civil unrest and resultant displacement have created challenges for programme implementation. Afghanistan urgently needs a well-funded, sustainable, comprehensive, and inclusive programme of drug dependency treatment, aftercare, and harm reduction services, as well as realistic, effective, and culturally salient primary prevention programmes. To date, drug dependence is not a prioritised issue, current programmes are under-resourced, and the continuum of care has a narrow scope generally limited to treatment. Unless this issue is addressed, the next generation of Afghans is poised to become a casualty of the opiate industry.

Herbicide-resistant weed management: focus on glyphosate.

This review focuses on proactive and reactive management of glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds. Glyphosate resistance in weeds has evolved under recurrent glyphosate usage, with little or no diversity in weed management practices. The main herbicide strategy for proactively or reactively managing GR weeds is to supplement glyphosate with herbicides of alternative modes of action and with soil-residual activity. These herbicides can be applied in sequences or mixtures. Proactive or reactive GR weed management can be aided by crop cultivars with alternative single or stacked herbicide-resistance traits, which will become increasingly available to growers in the future. Many growers with GR weeds continue to use glyphosate because of its economical broad-spectrum weed control. Government farm policies, pesticide regulatory policies and industry actions should encourage growers to adopt a more proactive approach to GR weed management by providing the best information and training on management practices, information on the benefits of proactive management and voluntary incentives, as appropriate. Results from recent surveys in the United States indicate that such a change in grower attitudes may be occurring because of enhanced awareness of the benefits of proactive management and the relative cost of the reactive management of GR weeds.

Climate change and cultural diversity.

Cultures and climate are changing. These changes interact with local knowledge and practice. Research has focused on technical questions, such as how small farmers and livestock keepers understand seasonal forecasts, veterinary problems or market conditions. However, there is a more holistic way of engaging local knowledge. Rural people utilise external technical ideas and tools, even complex ones, that complement their own concepts and experience of change. However, there are obstacles to overcome in generating such hybrid local knowledge. Firstly, there is a long history of domination of rural people by urban elites, including the assumed superiority of urban or high culture versus rural, vernacular or low culture. A second obstacle comes from the frequent use of science as justification to force rural people to do what governments want. Experience of exclusion and displacement has left a residue of bitterness and suspicion among many rural people. A third obstacle involves misuse of one-size-fits-all methods. No single, homogeneous knowledge exists in a locality. Rather there are women's forms of knowledge and the knowledge of men and elders and the knowledge of young people and children, which are differentiated also by occupation and by ethnicity. In the face of such cultural diversity an incompetent use of standardised participatory methods yields poor results and may alienate residents.

Processes of inclusion and adverse incorporation: oil palm and agrarian change in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Changes in globalised agriculture raise critical questions as rapid agricultural development leads to widespread social and environmental transformation. With increased global demand for vegetable oils and biofuel, in Indonesia the area under oil palm has doubled over the last decade. This paper presents a case study of how micro-processes that are linked to wider dynamics shape oil palm related agrarian change in villages in Sumatra, Indonesia. It pursues related questions regarding the impact of agribusiness-driven agriculture, the fate of smallholders experiencing contemporary agrarian transition, and the impact of increased demand for vegetable oils and biofuels on agrarian structures in Sumatra. It argues that the paths of agrarian change are highly uneven and depend on how changing livelihood strategies are enabled or constrained by economic, social and political relations that vary over time and space. In contrast to simplifying narratives of inclusion/exclusion, it argues that outcomes depend on the terms under which smallholders engage with oil palm. Distinguishing between exogenous processes of agribusiness expansion and endogenous commodity market expansion, it finds each is associated with characteristic processes of change. It concludes that the way successive policy interventions have worked with the specific characteristics of oil palm have cumulatively shaped the space where agrarian change occurs in Sumatra.

Understanding the evolution of rice technology in China - from traditional agriculture to GM rice today.

This paper provides an historical survey of the evolution of rice technology in China, from the traditional farming system to genetically modified rice today. Using sociotechnological analytical framework, it analyses rice technology as a socio-technical ensemble - a complex interaction of material and social elements, and discusses the specificity of technology development and its socio-technical outcomes. It points to two imperatives in rice variety development: wholesale transporting agricultural technology and social mechanism to developing countries are likely lead to negative consequences; indigenous innovation including deploying GM technology for seed varietal development and capturing/cultivating local knowledge will provide better solutions.

[Development strategies on seed seedling of Chinese medicinal materials].

This paper analyzed the development status, industrialization system, standardization system and new variety breeding of seed and seedling of Chinese medicinal materials. Based on the development status and problems facing to the seed and seedling industry in China, some reasonable countermeasures are proposed in this article. The main measures include strengthening new variety breeding, establishing experiment site, protecting new variety and standardizing the market and quality management.

Farmer knowledge and a priori risk analysis: pre-release evaluation of genetically modified Roundup Ready wheat across the Canadian prairies.

BACKGROUND, AIM, AND SCOPE: The controversy over the world's first genetically modified (GM) wheat, Roundup Ready wheat (RRW), challenged the efficacy of 'science-based' risk assessment, largely because it excluded the public, particularly farmers, from meaningful input. Risk analysis, in contrast, is broader in orientation as it incorporates scientific data as well as socioeconomic, ethical, and legal concerns, and considers expert and lay input in decision-making. Local knowledge (LK) of farmers is experience-based and represents a rich and reliable source of information regarding the impacts associated with agricultural technology, thereby complementing the scientific data normally used in risk assessment. The overall goal of this study was to explore the role of farmer LK in the a priori risk analysis of RRW. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 2004, data were collected from farmers using mail surveys sent across the three prairie provinces (i.e., Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) in western Canada. A stratified random sampling approach was used whereby four separate sampling districts were identified in regions where wheat was grown for each province. Rural post offices were randomly selected in each sampling district using Canada Post databases such that no one post office exceeded 80 farms and that each sampling district comprised 225-235 test farms (n = 11,040). In total, 1,814 people responded, representing an adjusted response rate for farmers of 33%. A subsequent telephone survey showed there was no non-response bias. RESULTS: The primary benefits associated with RRW were associated with weed control, whereas risks emphasized the importance of market harm, corporate control, agronomic problems, and the likelihood of contamination. Overall, risks were ranked much higher than benefits, and the great majority of farmers were highly critical of RRW commercialization. In total, 83.2% of respondents disagreed that RRW should have unconfined release into the environment. Risk was associated with distrust in government and corporations, previous experience with GM canola, and a strong belief in the importance of community and environment. Farmers were critical of expert-based risk assessment, particularly RRW field trials, and believed that their LK was valuable for assessing agbiotechnology as a whole. DISCUSSION: Over 90% of canola production across the Canadian prairies makes use of herbicide-tolerant (HT) varieties. Yet, respondents were generally uniform in their criticism of RRW, regardless whether they were HT users, non-HT-users, conservation tillage or organic in approach. They had a sophisticated understanding of how GM trait confinement was intrinsically tied to grain system segregation and, ultimately, market accessibility, and were concerned that gene flow in RRW would not be contained. Organic farmers were particularly critical of RRW, in large part because certification standards prohibit the presence of GM traits. Farmers practicing conservation tillage were also at relatively great risk, in part because their dependence on glyphosate to control weeds increases the likelihood that RRW volunteer would become more difficult and costly to control. CONCLUSIONS: This research is the first of its kind to include farmer knowledge in the a priori risk analysis of GM crops and, arguably, given its prairie-wide scope, is the largest scale, independent-farmer-focused study on GM crops ever conducted. The surprising uniformity in attitudes between users and non-users of GM technology and among organic, conventional, conservation tillage and GM using farmers speaks to the ability of farmers to discriminate among HT varieties. Our results clearly show that prairie farmers recognize that the risks associated with RRW commercialization outweigh any benefits. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: Farmer knowledge systems are holistic in nature, incorporating socioeconomic, cultural, political, and agroecological factors that all can contribute meaningfully to the pre-release evaluation of GM crops. The inclusion of farmers and other stakeholders in risk assessment will also help enhance and even restore public confidence in science-focused approaches to risk assessment. Although farmers are highly knowledgeable regarding RRW and arguably any agricultural technology, their expertise continues to be overlooked by decision-makers and regulators across North America.

Integrated assessment of nitrogen losses from agriculture in EU-27 using MITERRA-EUROPE.

The high N inputs to agricultural systems in many regions in 27 member states of the European Union (EU-27) result in N leaching to groundwater and surface water and emissions of ammonia (NH(3)), nitrous oxide (N(2)O), nitric oxide (NO), and dinitrogen (N(2)) to the atmosphere. Measures taken to decreasing these emissions often focus at one specific pollutant, but may have both antagonistic and synergistic effects on other N emissions. The model MITERRA-EUROPE was developed to assess the effects and interactions of policies and measures in agriculture on N losses and P balances at a regional level in EU-27. MITERRA-EUROPE is partly based on the existing models CAPRI and GAINS, supplemented with a N leaching module and a module with sets of measures. Calculations for the year 2000 show that denitrification is the largest N loss pathway in European agriculture (on average 44 kg N ha(-1) agricultural land), followed by NH(3) volatilization (17 kg N ha(-1)), N leaching (16 kg N ha(-1)) and emissions of N(2)O (2 kg N ha(-1)) and NO(X) (2 kg N ha(-1)). However, losses between regions in the EU-27 vary strongly. Some of the measures implemented to abate NH(3) emission may increase N(2)O emissions and N leaching. Balanced N fertilization has the potential of creating synergistic effects by simultaneously decreasing N leaching and NH(3) and N(2)O emissions. MITERRA-EUROPE is the first model that quantitatively assesses the possible synergistic and antagonistic effects of N emission abatement measures in a uniform way in EU-27.

The global diversion of pharmaceutical drugs. India: the third largest illicit opium producer?

AIMS: This paper explores India's role in the world illicit opiate market, particularly its role as a producer. India, a major illicit opiate consumer, is also the sole licensed exporter of raw opium: this unique status may be enabling substantial diversion to the illicit market. METHODS: Participant observation and interviews were carried out at eight different sites. Information was also drawn from all standard secondary sources and the analysis of about 180 drug-related criminal proceedings reviewed by Indian High Courts and the Supreme Court from 1985 to 2001. FINDINGS: Diversion from licit opium production takes place on such a large scale that India may be the third largest illicit opium producer after Afghanistan and Burma. With the possible exceptions of 2005 and 2006, 200-300 tons of India's opium may be diverted yearly. After estimating India's opiate consumption on the basis of UN-reported prevalence estimates, we find that diversion from licit production might have satisfied a quarter to more than a third of India's illicit opiate demand to 2004. CONCLUSIONS: India is not only among the world's largest consumer of illicit opiates but also one of the largest illicit opium producers. In contrast to all other illicit producers, India owes the latter distinction not to blatantly illicit cultivation but to diversion from licit cultivation. India's experience suggests the difficulty of preventing substantial leakage, even in a relatively well-governed nation.