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Environmentally-sound management of biotechnology is the subject
of Chapter
16 of Agenda 21. Biotechnology is not directly addressed in
the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Biotechnology is the integration of the new
techniques emerging from modern biotechnology with the
well-established approaches of traditional biotechnology. It is
a set of enabling techniques for bringing about specific
human-made changes in DNA, or genetic material, in plants,
animals and microbial systems, leading to useful products and
technologies. Biotechnology promises to make a significant
contribution in enabling the development of, for example, better
health care, enhanced food security, improved supplies of
potable water, more efficient industrial development processes
for transforming raw materials, support for sustainable methods
of afforestation and reforestation, and detoxification of
hazardous wastes. It offers new opportunities for global
partnerships.
The programme areas covered in Chapter 16 seek to foster
internationally- agreed-upon principles to be applied to ensure
the environmentally-sound management of biotechnology, to
engender public trust and confidence, to promote the development
of sustainable applications of biotechnology and to establish
appropriate enabling mechanisms, especially within developing
countries.
Biotechnology was discussed at the third session of the
Commission on Sustainable Development and the nineteenth special
session of the General Assembly. Within the framework of the
Commission’s multi-year programme of work, it will again be
taken up in the context of "integrated planning and
management of land resources" at the Commission’s eighth
session, in 2000.
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