Essentially all life on the Planet is dependent upon plants and their ability to photosynthesize. In our air-conditioned domiciles, eating processed foods from the microwave, we have lost touch of our utter dependence upon plants and the habitats they occupy. We need plants, in all their diversity, in order to continue to meet basic human needs. Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby Conservationists in the US say the world is losing plant species at a rate which threatens its ability to grow enough food, and to exploit other plant-based products on which hundreds of millions of people depend. A report by the Worldwatch Institute, based in Washington DC, says the genetic diversity of the plants humanity relies on is being eroded at a dangerous rate.
Biotechnology is no solution.
We are increasingly skilful at moving genes around, but only nature can create them. If a plant bearing a unique genetic trait disappears, there is no way to get it back. Yet plant breeders often turn to wild relatives of domestic crops in search of desirable traits like disease resistance. Fifty years ago Chinese farmers were estimated to have been growing 10,000 varieties of wheat. By the 1970s, that figure had fallen to about 1,000.