Environment and Biotechnologies

Due to past and current greenhouse gas emissions, global warming has already reached 1°C above the pre-industrial level. The yearly reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly state that there is “overwhelming scientific evidence that this is resulting in profound consequences for ecosystems and people. The ocean is warmer, more acidic and less productive. Melting glaciers and ice sheets are causing sea level rise, and coastal extreme events are becoming more severe”. Science has sounded the alarm, citizens should take action to urge decision-makers to address a situation in which some 670 million people in high mountain regions and 680 million people in low-lying coastal zones depend on global warming.  At the same time, technology and biotechnologies, in particular, can tremendously contribute to more sustainable development and the provision of food security for people that live in regions of the world with scarce resources.