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Biodiversity, Biotechnology, and Business

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Antoinette M. Mannion
Antoinette M. Mannion
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 227, Reading, Berkshire RG6 2AB, England, UK.
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Extract

Biotechnology is probably the only industry, except agriculture, wherein the relationship between biodiversity and the wealth that it generates is so explicit. Biodiversity is the variety of organisms, their genetic variation, and the variability of associations that these organisms display spatially. Biotechnology is the harnessing of living organisms and/or their components to undertake specific processes and/or generate useful products. The modern industry is a product of the 1980s and relies heavily on genetic manipulation (commonly referred to as ‘engineering’). It has many applications, the most important sectors being in medicine, agriculture, and the environment, where it can be involved in resource recovery, recycling, and pollution abatement.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1995 , pp. 201 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1995

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