Ecology

Plastic Atlas Japan special edition Cover page 2

Plastic Atlas Japan Special Edition (6 pages in English)

Article
Japan has the second highest plastic management index (PMI) in the world, thanks to its advanced waste management system and high levels of local cooperation. On the other hand, Japan’s per capita plastic consumption is also quite high. Innovative policies, strategies, and action plans are required for Japan to promote the circulation of resources and build a sustainable lifestyle and society.
Gene editing

Pandemic Poker? Big Tech’s Gamble on the Molecular Manipulation of Life in the Asia-Pacific Region

Commentary
Even with unprecedented global investment and effort by some of the world’s most expert professional genetic engineers trained in the task of taming SARS-COV2, it is clear that just one virus continues to surprise and outwit humans’ best attempts to control biology and that social divisions are increasing as a consequence. Here we explore what other technologies would-be molecular manipulators are developing as part of their ongoing mission for human mastery.
ETC Group
Vegan Meet Beer Brat Sausages - Tony Webster

Food for Good: Genetic Technologies Boost Output and Options

Article
The world is never short of food supply issues. They become headlines on economic and political pages, as when the US food price index surged 3.1-4.2% in 2021, and China urged its people to stock up on food ahead of winter. Scientists have resorted to plant-based meat, cultured meat and genetically engineered plants to mitigate food shortages. The author believes that some emergent food technologies are promising in terms of addressing the problems of feeding the poor, biodiversity, and climate change, yet there are also new challenges to be resolved.
Isaac Lam
ETC infographic 2 crop

Tech, Farming, Biodiversity

Dossier
Digitalization, genomics, climate geoengineering: A range of new and emerging technologies impact upon farming, food production and biodiversity. Many of them promise productivity growth and better sustainability, and even to address climate change by means of mitigation or increased resilience to it. However, small-scale farming communities often have neither access to – nor a say in the application of – these new technologies, some of which are high-risk, threatening potentially irreversible change to our planet. In a series of essays and commentaries undertaken on the occasion of the Biodiversity Convention COP 2021-22 in Kunming, the ETC Group and others authors from the hbs network in Asia discuss technologies, the imagined futures that underpin them, and their actual and potential impacts on food production, farming communities and biodiversity, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

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