Public perception in university and educational institutions about clonal forestry and forest biotechnology in Argentina and Venezuela.
Registro en:
Autor
Sharry, Sandra
Trujillo, Iselén
Romero Alves, Maite
Cinquetti, Tatiana
Galarco, Sebastián
Boeri, Patricia Alejandra
Institución
Resumen
Fil: Sharry, Sandra. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Laboratorio de Investigtaciones de la Madera (LIMAD); Argentina. Fil: Trujillo, Iselén. Universidad Nacional Experimental SImón Rodriguez; Venezuela Fil: Romero Alves, Maite. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Laboratorio de Investigtaciones de la Madera (LIMAD); Argentina. Fil: Cinquetti, Tatiana. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Laboratorio de Investigtaciones de la Madera (LIMAD); Argentina. Fil: Galarco, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Laboratorio de Investigtaciones de la Madera (LIMAD); Argentina. Fil: Boeri, Patricia A. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; Argentina. Fil: Sharry, Sandra. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; Argentina. The issue of clonal planting and biotechnology has captured unprecedented public interest and concern
throughout the world, and South America has not kept out of this debate. The debate includes scientific
aspects, ethical issues and possible environmental, economic and social impacts, as well as health,
technological dependence and sovereignty. Biotechnology in South America has grown rapidly in recent
years, highlighting Micro propagation as one of the most used bio-technics. However, forest
biotechnology (mainly GM trees) and clonal forestry face constraints that limit their social acceptance,
due to aggressive campaigns by environmental NGOs and environmentalists, directed at people who are
unaware of the issue, and based on information from unreliable sources. The objective of this work was
to conduct a KAP (knowledge, attitudes and practices) survey that targeted Forest engineering students
and those in Environmental Sciences (Argentina), Biological Sciences and Environmental Sciences and
Agro ecology (Venezuela) to determine the acceptance level in relation to the use of forestry and forest
biotechnology. There were differences in responses according to country, career and gender. The results
show that environmental awareness is the most important concern, focused on the loss of biodiversity.
Of students 76% know what a plant clone is, but they do not know how they are produced. However,
they identify different vegetative propagation techniques, the best known being the propagation through
cuttings and grafts, and the least known being somatic embryogenesis in the in vitro area. All the
students answered that they know what biotechnology is, but they could not select the correct definition.
Points of view on these issues differ between and within countries, because South America is a cultural
mosaic, where questions about the acceptance of new technologies have a different basis depending on
what each nation considers most important. In conclusion, this preliminary study showed that these
subjects should be included in the curriculum of the surveyed careers, incorporating in each country,
characteristic local elements of importance to the environment.