The Rights of Local Communities and Their Role in the Sustainable Exploitation of Biodiversity

Agricultural biodiversity is the biological and cultural heritage of the world. Human food safety and opportunity for further development depends on the behavior and the ways in which agricultural biodiversity is used. The protection of the diversity is primarily based on the knowledge and practical experience of small rural households and communities. The system of maintaining and expanding the potential of genetic diversity of plants and domestic animals has been reliable, though now it has become seriously endangered. In the context of sustainable development, there is an urgent need to find new legal and organizational ways to protect this wealth from the seemingly uncontrolled influence of modern biotechnology on agriculture and food production.