In Search of Biohappiness

Biodiversity and Food, Health and Livelihood Security

In Search of Biohappiness deals with methods of converting agro-biodiversity hotspots into happy spots. This involves concurrent attention to conservation, and sustainable and equitable use. Bioresources constitute the feedstock for the biotechnology industry. The aim of the book is to promote an era of biohappiness based on the conversion of bioresources into jobs and income in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The scope of Biohappiness extends to include all aspects of conservation such as in situ, ex situ and community conservation, and also covers conservation issues relating to mangroves and other coastal bioresources, whose importance has grown with the emerging possibility of significant sea-level increase from global warming. Concrete examples of how local tribal families have taken to the establishment of gene, seed, grain and water banks in villages — thus linking conservation, cultivation, consumption and commerce in a mutually-reinforcing manner — are provided in this book.

Since the first edition, biohappiness is now universally considered to be the major objective of research and development in the field of biodiversity. This edition brings the position up-to-date, and furthers the cause of biohappiness through the inclusion of a new section on its latest developments.

Contents:

• Conservation, Cultivation, Consumption and Commerce: Pathways to Biohappiness:

  • Towards an Era of Biohappiness
  • Biodiversity and Sustainable Food Security
  • Biotechnology and Biohappiness
  • Integrated Gene Management
  • Mangroves
  • Plant Variety Protection and Genetic Conservation

• Science and Sustainable Food Security:

  • The Tsunami and a New Chapter
  • Now for the Evergreen Revolution
  • Evergreen Revolution and Sustainable Food Security
  • Priorities in Agricultural Research and Education
  • Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis
  • Synergy between Food Security Act and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
  • Common and Differentiated Entitlements: Pathway for Food Security for All
  • Designing Architecture for a Learning Revolution
  • Role of Sustainability Science
  • Towards Eliminating Hunger and Poverty

• Food Security in an Era of Climate Change and Civil Strife:

  • Copenhagen, Tsunami and Hunger
  • Monsoon Management in an Era of Climate Change
  • Media and the Farm Sector
  • Resolving Asia's Contradictions: Growth versus Inequities
  • From Killing Fields to Smiling Gardens in Northern Sri Lanka
  • Finding Common International Goals
  • Looking Back and Looking Ahead

• Towards Furthering Biohappiness:

  • New Technologies for a Small Farm Productivity Revolution
  • Overcoming the Curse of Malnutrition
  • Traditional Knowledge and Modern Science
  • Role of International Years in Meeting the Zero Hunger Challenge
  • Vision of a Food-Secure India

Readership: Environmentalists and members of the general public interested in the environment and its various aspects such as sustainability, climate change and conservation.