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Green Biotechnology for Food Security in Climate Change Kevan MA Gartland and Jill S Gartland, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland

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Green Biotechnology for Food Security in Climate Change Kevan MA Gartland and Jill S Gartland, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland Green Biotechnology for Food Security in Climate Change Kevan MA Gartland and Jill S Gartland, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland Ó 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Climate Change and Food Security 1 Green Biotechnology and Food Security 2 Green Biotechnology Crops 2 Drought Tolerance 3 Salt Stress and Flooding Tolerance 6 Emergent Technologies for Regulating Gene Expression in Food Crops 6 Attitudes, Needs, and the Future 7 References 8 Climate Change and Food Security Climate change effects include rising temperatures and increasingly frequent extreme weather events including drought, storms, or flooding (FAO, 2014). Negative impacts on agricultural and aquacultural productivity including food crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries are inevitable. Climate change is sometimes referred to as ‘global warming,’ although it more accurately also includes the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and unusual variations in weather patterns. Climate change effects where and how particular types of food can be produced, pre- and postharvest losses, and the effective range of pathogens. Nutritional properties, such as mineral and vitamin content of foods, are also likely to be affected. Quantitative estimates of the effects of climate change include a 4 C rise in mean global temperatures by 2060, which will impact greatly on yields of global crops such as rice, wheat, maize, and soya (IPCC, 2014). Food security encompasses the ability of all people, at all times to have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 2014). Four dimensions of food security have been identified, as outlined in Table 1 (Ruane and Sonnino, 2011). More than 925 million people will be undernourished by 2020, including 16% of developing country populations. This startling need, combined with 40% of the global population relying on agriculture for some or all of their income (Yashveer et al., 2015; Federoff, 2015), means that climate change is probably the biggest threat to global food security. Gradual temperature increases and extreme weather events will lead to declining yields, increased soil degradation, and pollution through nitrogen runoff as increasing use is made of chemical fertilizers to prop up food production (Godfrey and Garnett, 2014). Wheat yields globally have already begun to decline (Figure 1; Goldenberg, 2014), and forecasts for sub-Saharan Africa of 22% wheat, 14% rice, and 5% maize yield decreases by 2050 (Fernandez, 2011) demonstrate the scale of the threat to food security posed by climate change. Opportunities for mitigation include enhancing adaptation to the progressive effects of climate change, better management of global warming–related agricultural risks, crop substitution in altered environments, agricultural intensification, and reducing deforestation for agricultural purposes (Vermeulen et al., 2012). Although seemingly counterintuitive, reducing deforestation by 10% can save 500 million tonnes CO2 equivalents emissions over 5 years and keep more land available for food production (Smith et al., 2008). Table 1 Dimensions of food security Food security dimension Examples Food availability Production and processing, trade Access to food Marketing and transport, incomes and buying power Utilization of food Health status, nutritious food choices, food quality and safety, clean water and sanitation Food system stability Ensuring physical and economic access Sources: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2011. Climate Change, Water and Food Security. FAO. Water Report 36; Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2014. FAO Success Stories on Climate Smart Agriculture. FAO. I3871E/1/05.14. www.fao.org/climatechange/climatesmart; Ruane, J., Sonnino, A., 2011. Agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries and their possible contribution to food security. J. Biotechnol. 156, 356–363. Reference Module in Food Sciences http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.03071-7 1 2 Green Biotechnology for Food Security in Climate Change Figure 1 Durum wheat grains. Source: USDA Photo Services. Green Biotechnology and Food Security Biotechnology uses any biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives to make or modify products or processes for specific use (United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, 1992). When applied to agricultural processes, this is known as green biotechnology. Among the approaches being used in combating climate change to ensure food security, sustainable intensification and climate smart agriculture are globally relevant. Sustainable intensification seeks to increase food production from a decreased land area through greater intensification and enhanced extensification of land being used in agriculture (Godfray and Garnett, 2014). Achieving this will involve ecological, genetic, and market intensification. Climate smart agriculture seeks to use breeding, techno- logical, and policy tools to increase the sustainability and resilience of food production systems; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and enhance achievement of national food security and development goals (Conway, 2012). Green biotechnology is making signif- icant contributions to combating climate change. This contribution includes the use of technology in everything from conventional breeding and marker-aided selection to genetic modification and the application of genomics in agriculture. Marker-aided selection uses a morphological, biochemical, or DNA/RNA variation markers for indirect selection or determination of an interesting trait. Examples of such traits include yield, grain size, disease resistance, stress tolerance, or some aspect of quality. Genomics applies nucleic acids (DNA or RNA), sequencing recombinant DNA, or other bioinformatics approaches to the structure and function of genomes. Recent progress in agricultural genomics includes the sequencing of 65% of the complex and gene dense barley (Hordeum vulgare, Figure 2) genome by the International Barley Sequencing Consortium (Munoz-Amitriain et al., 2015). Green Biotechnology Crops The application of biotechnology to agriculture offers a wide range of potential advantages in aiding food security. Examples of these green biotechnology advantages are outlined in Table 2. Attaining the full potential of green biotechnology for food security, Figure 2 Barley, Hordeum vulgare. Source: WikiCommons. Green Biotechnology for Food Security in Climate Change 3 Table 2 Contributions of green biotechnology to food security Contribution Example References Food production increased 33 000 tonnes drought-tolerant maize seed, providing up Abate (2014) and Zilberman et al. (2014) to 25% yield advantage under water-stressed conditions, distributed in 2013 by Drought Tolerance for Africa Project Overexpression TaNF-YB4 gene in transgenic wheat Yadav et al. (2015) improves grain yield in 775 l containerized trials Yield losses reduced Papaya resistant to ringspot virus Gonsalves and Gonsalves (2014) and Bruce (2011) Increased intensification Potato intensification Katoh et al. (2014) and Masiga et al. (2014) Agricultural water use reduced Drought-tolerant maize hybrids increase water use Haoa et al. (2015) efficiency by up to 30% Reduced soil physical damage Low/no tilling crops led to 25.9 billion kg additional soil James (2014) carbon sequestration in 2013 Greenhouse gas emissions Reduced tractor usage for tilling, spraying, irrigating Brookes and Barfoot (2015) decreased reduced CO2 emissions by 2.1 billion kg in 2013 Breeding cycle time reduced Marker-aided selection, genomics Munoz-Amitriain et al. (2015) Insecticide use decreased 7.6 kilotonnes reduction in insecticide use for 2012 from Brookes and Barfoot (2014) and Mutuc et al. (2011) insect-resistant maize Herbicide use decreased 203 million kg herbicide use reduction by ISAAA (2014a) herbicide-tolerant maize farmers 1996–2013 Enhanced adaptation Drought-tolerant ‘DroughtGard’ maize planting in the USA James (2014) increased 5.5 Â in 2014 Improved nutritional properties Pro-vitamin A in ‘Golden Rice’ Bollineni et al. (2014) and Tang et al. (2009) for example, through sustainable intensification and climate smart agriculture requires lessons from the first agricultural ‘green revo- lution’ to be learned (Borlaug, 2000, 2003; McKenzie and Williams, 2015). Climate change affects food production and food secu- rity globally. Temperate regions are experiencing the impact of climate change earlier than previously thought (IPCC, 2014). When these changes are allied to rising global population, forecast to increase from the current 7.2 to 9.6 billion by 2050 (Federoff, 2015), expectations of 70% more food being needed appear realistic (Bruce, 2011) and the challenge to food security becomes greater (Federoff, 2015). Green biotechnology can make a valuable contribution to meeting increased food needs, through its various forms, including genetic modification, alongside conventional and organic forms of agriculture. No single approach or agricultural model can, however, be a panacea, as the needs and environments of populations around the world differ so widely. Biotechnology crops were grown in 28 countries by more than 18 million farmers on 181 million ha in 2014, an increase of 3.5% on 2013. Ninety percent of these were small, poorly resourced farmers (James, 2014). The largest plantings ranged from 73.1 million ha of biotechnology crops (food crops plus cotton) in the United States to 42.2
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