Monocultures of the Mind Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology

includes index and biblioraphy

CHAPTER 1 Monocultures of the Mind 9 The `Disappeared` Knowledge Systems 9 The Cracks of Fragmentation 12 The Destruction of Diversity as `Weeds` 22 `Miracle` Trees and `Miracle` Seeds 27 The Green Revolution and `Miracle` Seeds 39 The Non-Sustainability of Monocultures 50 Democratising Knowledge 59 CHAPTER 2 Biodiversity: A Third World Perspective 65 `The Crisis of Diversity` 65 Primary Threats to Biodiversity 68 Effects of Biodiversity Erosion 73 First World Bio-imperialism and North-South Conflicts 78 Limitations of the Dominant Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation 82 From Bio-imperialism to Bio-democracy 88 CHAPTER 3 Biotechnology and the Environment 95 Introduction 95 Biotechnology and Biohazards 96 Biotechnology and Chemical Hazards 108 Biotechnology and Biodiversity 114 Biotechnology Substitutes and Economic Displacement in the Third World 118 Biotechnology, Privatisation and Concentration 119 Biotechnology, Patents and Private Property in Life Forms 120 Appendices to Chapter 3 128 CHAPTER 4 The Seed and the Spinning Wheel: Technology Development and Biodiversity Conservation 133 Introduction 133 Technology Development and Sustainability 134 Diversity and Productivity 137 Conservation of the Seed and the Spinning Wheel 141 Conclusion 146 CHAPTER 5 The Biodiversity Convention: An Evaluation from the Third World Perspective