Socio-economic

In the face of a growing population and ever changing technological advances, pressures on biological diversity are mounting. Activities focusing on the sustainable management of biological diversity must therefore include socio-economic issues. This implies intersectoral co-operation and decentralisation of management to the lowest level appropriate, equitable and gender sensitive distribution of benefits, and the use of adaptive management tools and policies to deal with uncertainties as modified in the light of experience and changing conditions.

Today's agricultural systems are changing rapidly and must be able to draw on a wide range of genetic resources in order to develop harmoniously. This is all within a context where access to genetic resources is increasingly constrained by national access legislation, intellectual property protection over commercial material, and capital concentration in agricultural input industries.