Covid 19: HOMEF Cautions On Use of Biodiversity – Leadership Newspaper

The Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Dr Nnimo Bassey has called for sober consideration on the development and use of Biodiversity following the virtual shut down of global economy.

Dr Bassey gave the charge in his welcome remarks at a stakeholders conference which held in Abuja on Monday, March 23, 2020 with the theme Agricultural Technofixes and the state of Biosafety in Nigeria.

In his words The world is virtually shut down due to the ravages of a virus. This is no time for grandstanding or for anyone to claim that they have got anything under control.

He said addressing the issues of agricultural technofixes and the state of our Biosafety gives us the template to consider the current situation in our world and the unpredictability of what could happen next. Noting that while scenario planners may have foreseen a pandemic of the scale that Corona virus has provoked, it comes as a total surprise to the average person.

The Activist emphasised that they had had on several occasions warned that things could go deeply wrong and out of hands if humans persist in toying with the genetic make up of living organisms for the consideration of power in a few moguls and for profit, adding that when humans engineer crops to make them act as pesticides, nature offers super pest or super bugs.

In any case humans get trapped in needless and unwinnable battles against nature he said

Recently, mainstream genetic engineering has progressed to the level of editing genetic makeup of organisms and not necessarily having to engage in trans-species transfer of genetic materials.This has focussed on becoming extinction technologies

He maintained that while modern biotechnology promoters like the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and the regulatory National Biosafety Management Agency(NBMA) feel confident that they can handle any sort of technicalities in both the mainstream and newfields of extreme technofixes We are deeply concerned that their grandstanding would not stop the purveyors of these technologies from weaponising them.

Giving the opening remarks, Minister of state for Environment, Barrister Sharon Ikeazor, stated that, With Nigerias population projected to exceed 400 million by 2050, an immediate priority for agricultural is to maximize crop productivity in a manner that is environmentally friendly, sustainable and cost effective.

The Minister who was represented by the Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba said Government efforts to ensure food security have been challenged by climate change effects such as droughts and floods, erratic weather conditions and declining soil fertility among others.

The Minister said to address these challenges, Nigeria has adopted several technologies including modern agricultural biotechnology to ensure food security in the country.

She maintained that to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by products arising from modern biotechnology such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and ensure international best practices in the application of modern biotechnology, Nigeria has put in place the necessary legal and policy instruments to guide its development and safe use.

The Minister however noted that Biodiversity in Nigeria is under enormous pressure and highly threatened due to land use changes from agriculture and over grazing,over exploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution and climate change.

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Covid 19: HOMEF Cautions On Use of Biodiversity - Leadership Newspaper