Food Biotechnology in Ethical Perspective
Agrifood biotechnology—the genetic transformation of plants and animals through recombinant means—has created controversy in the food system for more than twenty years. The new edition reflects lessons from the hotly contested debates over those issues in the intervening decade, and includes wholly new discussions on ethical issues associated with livestock cloning, the Precautionary Principle, and the transatlantic debate between United States and European perspectives on biotechnology.
Flower Breeding and Genetics : Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century
This book provides a unique and valuable resource on the many issues and challenges facing flower breeders, as well as the industry at-large. In this volume, the first comprehensive assemblage of its kind, a team of 32 international authorities has contributed to make this book a ‘must-have’ reference to research and develop flower crops for the 21st century consumers. Part 1 of this book (flower breeding program issues) contains unique features of interest to horticultural professionals and students, include coverage of plant protection strategies, cultivar trialing methodology, germplasm collection/preservation, preventing invasiveness, and other timely topics. The collective body of knowledge for 24 flower crops (Part 2: Crop-specific Breeding and Genetics) represents the in-depth science and art of breeding technology available for bedding plants, flowering potted plants, cut flowers, and herbaceous perennials. Each author provides crop-specific history, evolution, biology, taxonomy, state-of-the-art breeding/genetics, classical/molecular technologies, species traits, interspecific hybridization, and directions for future development/enhancement.
Flavonoids as nutraceuticals
Flavonoids are well-known plant metabolites that have extraordinary properties that can be used for treating health issues. The pharmaceutical importance of flavonoids is due to their anti-depressant, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant capacities. They are also of great importance when it comes to neuroprotection, cardiovascular disorders, and many types of cancer. Flavonoids are also easily available and produce less harmful side effects than some conventional therapeutics. This new volume examines the growing use of flavonoids for prevention and treatment of diseases and discusses their beneficial mechanisms. Chapters in the volume address diverse uses as anti-aging tools, as anti-inflammatory agents, for treating pregnancy-induced disorders, as a promising tool to combat infection of Covid-19, etc. The book explores their specific therapeutic antiviral potentials, the gene expression by flavonoids, and the role of flavonoids in agriculture.
Farming for Health : Green-Care Farming Across Europe and the United States of America
Farming for Health describes the utilization of agricultural farms, farm animals, plants and landscapes as a base for promoting human mental and physical health and social well-being. This book gives an overview of the development of ‘Farming for Health’ initiatives across Europe. This development is a logical result of the changing paradigms in the health-care sector and the demand for new social and financial impulses in agriculture and rural areas.
Famine Early Warning Systems and Remote Sensing Data
This book describes the interdisciplinary work of USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and its in uence on how food security crises are identi ed, documented and the kind of responses that result. The book describes FEWS NET’s systems and methods for using satellite remote sensing to identify and describe how biophysical hazards impact the lives and livelihoods of the po- lation where they occur. It presents several illustrative case studies that will dem- strate the integration of both physical and social science disciplines in its work. FEWS NET’s operational needs have driven science in biophysical remote sensing applications through its collaboration with the US Geological Survey, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and US Department of Agriculture, as well as methodologies in the social science domain through its support of the US Agency for International - velopment, UN World Food Program and numerous international non-governmental organizations such as Save the Children, Oxfam and others. Because FEWS NET is an organization that must provide a global picture of food insecurity to decision makers, the information it relies on are by necessity - servable and able to be documented.
Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development
The following sections focus on evaluation of climate change projects and policies as they link to development, from the perspective of international organisations, NGO’s, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, and academia. The authors share methodologies or approaches used to better understand problems and assess interventions, strategies and policies. They also share challenges encountered, what was done to solve these and lessons learned from evaluations. Collectively, the authors illustrate the importance of evaluation in providing evidence to guide policy change to informed decision-making.
Etymological Dictionary of Grasses
The dictionary provides explanations of the meaning and origins of generic and specific names of grasses, one of the largest and economically most important plant families. Most of the names published during the past 250 years are included.
Ethics in Agriculture : An African Perspective
The role of biotechnology in African agriculture has become a contentious issue. The ethical issues in agriculture in Africa do not focus only on biotechnology. The role of nutrition in the persistence of HIV/AIDS is highly debated and sometimes controversial. Land-related issues also generate heated debates in communities and amongst policy-makers. The single core that runs through all of these and many other related issues is, what are ethically acceptable solutions to these problems? This book attempts, in simple, unambiguous terms, to discuss the most important issues in African agriculture that have an ethical thread.
Ester Boserup’s legacy on sustainability : Orientations for contemporary research
The contents are organized in three sections reflecting important focal points of Boserup’s own work: Long-Term Socio-Ecological Change; Agriculture, Land Use, and Development; and Gender, Population, and Economy. The first three chapters offer a comprehensive review of her political and scientific work. Section Two focuses on the applicability of Boserup’s reflections on land use, technology, and agriculture, incorporating case studies which illuminate and test Boserup’s hypotheses on land use intensification and soil degradation, the impact of population growth on land use, the agricultural transition, and the role of women in development. The case studies examine both long historical time series and present-day dynamics, and explore different levels of geographical scale, from the local to the regional and the global. Section Three emphasizes the key role of women and gender relations for agriculture and development.
Essential oils : sources, production and applications
Essential oils are simply the volatile oils of plants. These are concentrated liquids contain many terpenes, alkaloids and alcohols etc. Various compounds of essential oils have bioactive properties such as antimicrobial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-viral and anti-fungal etc. This book describes the sources of essential oils, extraction and production method, characterizing tools, bioactivity, and various applications in the field of industries, daily usage, agriculture, health, and food.
Environmental History of the Rhine-Meuse Delta : An ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise
This book presents the environmental history of the Delta of the lowland rivers Rhine and Meuse, an ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise. It offers a combination of in-depth ecology and environmental history, dealing with exploitation of land and water, the use of everything nature provided, the development of fisheries and agriculture, changes in biodiversity of higher plants, fish, birds, mammals and invasive exotics. It is the first comprehensive book written in English on the integrated environmental history of the Delta, from prehistoric times up to the present day. It covers the l- acy of human intervention, the inescapable fate of reclaimed, nevertheless subs- ing and sinking polders, ‘bathtubs’ attacked by numerous floods, reclaimed in the Middle Ages and unwittingly exposed to the rising sea level and the increasing amplitude between high and low water in the rivers. The river channels, constricted and regulated between embankments, lost their flood plains, silted up, degraded and incised. Cultivation of raised bog deposits led to oxidation and compacting of peat and clay, resulting in progressive subsidence and flooding; arable land had to be changed into grassland and wetland. For millennia muscular strength and wind and water powers moulded the country into its basic form. From 1800 onwards, acceleration and scaling up by steam power and electricity, and exponential popu- tion growth, resulted in the erection of human structures ‘fixed forever’, and severe pressure on the environment.
Enhancing Smallholder Farmers' Access to Seed of Improved Legume Varieties Through Multi-stakeholder Platforms : Learning from the TLIII project Experiences in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
This book shares the experiences of Tropical Legumes III (TLIII) project in facilitating access to seed of improved legume varieties to smallholder farmers through innovation platforms. It highlights practices and guiding principles implemented in eight developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This book details key processes that respective teams employed to create an innovation space that delivers seed, other inputs, knowledge and financial services to agricultural communities and most importantly, the underserved farmers in remote areas of the drylands
Encyclopedia of Soil Science
The Encyclopedia of Soil Science provides a comprehensive, alphabetical treatment of basic soil science in a single volume. It constitutes a wide ranging and authorative collection of about 160 academic articles covering the salient aspects of soil physics, chemistry, biology, fertility, technology, genesis, morphology, classification and geomorphology.
Efficient Screening Techniques to Identify Mutants with TR4 Resistance in Banana : Protocols
The Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture implemented a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) ‘Efficient Screening Techniques to Identify Mutants with Disease Resistance for Coffee and Banana” (2015-2020). This CRP brought together experts from Asia, Europe and Africa in addition to experts of the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre to develop resistance against TR4 through mutation-assisted breeding. Induced mutagenesis is particularly attractive in case of banana since most cultivated bananas are seedless, thus hampering conventional cross breeding
Effetti, potenzialitα e limiti della globalizzazione : Una visione multidisciplinare = Effects, potential and limits of globalization: A multidisciplinary vision
Gli autori propongono una visione multidisciplinare che integra settori apparentemente lontani fra loro ma uniti dal tema della globalizzazione. Il volume raccoglie contributi di Economia, Giurisprudenza, Agraria, Ingegneria, Medicina, Farmacia, Biologia e Scienze della Terra. I diversi capitoli forniscono uno sguardo d'insieme sul tema della globalizzazione in maniera accessibile a tutti coloro che desiderano conoscere meglio la realtà dei nostri giorni senza rassegnarsi ad accettarne gli aspetti negativi.
Economic Loss Caused by Genetically Modified Organisms : Liability and Redress for the Adventitious Presence of GMOs in Non-GM Crops
The cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in the EU may lead to cases, in which traditional agricultural products contain detectable traces of GMOs. On the one hand, such admixture may result from inadequate application of segregation measures by farmers. On the other hand, as agriculture is an open process that does not allow the complete isolation of individual fields, a certain degree of admixture between neighbouring crops is unavoidable in practice. The presence of GMOs in traditional products may lead to their devaluation, which would entail an economic damage to the producer of
Eating, Drinking: Surviving : The International Year of Global Understanding - IYGU
This publication addresses the global challenges of food and water security in a rapidly changing and complex world. The essays highlight the links between bio-physical and socio-cultural processes, making connections between local and global scales, and focusing on the everyday practices of eating and drinking, essential for human survival. Written by international experts, each contribution is research-based but accessible to the general public.
Earth observation science and applications for risk reduction and enhanced resilience in Hindu Kush Himalaya Region : A decade of experience from SERVIR
This book is a consolidation of lessons learnt and experiences gathered from our efforts to utilise Earth observation (EO) science and applications to address environmental challenges in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
Disturbed soil properties and geotechnical design
Describes the developments leading to the Original Cam Clay model, focusing on fundamentals of the shearing of soil. The aim is to lay the groundwork of understanding that should form the basis of geotechnical design, guiding engineers towards the class of behaviour to be expected under different combinations of effective stress and water content.
Developmental State Building : The Politics of Emerging Economies
This book modifies and revitalizes the concept of the ‘developmental state’ to understand the politics of emerging economy through nuanced analysis on the roles of human agency in the context of structural transformation. In other words, there is a revived interest in the ‘developmental state’ concept. The nature of the ‘emerging state’ is characterized by its attitude toward economic development and industrialization. Emerging states have engaged in the promotion of agriculture, trade, and industry and played a transformative role to pursue a certain path of economic development. Their success has cast doubt about the principle of laissez faire among the people in the developing world. This doubt, together with the progress of democratization, has prompted policymakers to discover when and how economic policies should deviate from laissez faire, what prevents political leaders and state institutions from being captured by vested interests, and what induce them to drive economic development.



















