Continue with:Is Man Destroying His Own Food Supply?

The extinction of plants can affect food crops in at least two ways:  First, by wiping out the wild relatives of cultivated crops, a potential source of genes for future breeding, and second, by reducing the number of strains within cultivated species. Early in the 20th century, for example, probably over 100,000 folk varieties of rice were cultivated in Asia, with at least 30,000 in India alone. Now 75 percent of India's crop consists of just ten varieties. Sri lanka's 2,000  rice strains have been all but replaced by 5. Mexico, the cradle of corn domestication, cultivates  jut 20 percent of the varieties that were found there in the 1930's.  

But more than just food is at stake. About 25 percent of commercially manufactured medicines are derived from plants, and new medicinal plants continue to be found. Yet, plants are constantly being driven to extinction.  Could we be, in effect, sawing off the very branch that supports us?

According to the World Conservation Union, of some 18,000 species of plants and animals investigated, more than 11,000 face extinction. In places such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Latin America, where great swaths of forest have been cleared for plantations, researchers can only guess at how many species are about to-or already have-become extinct. Nevertheless, some say that extinction is proceeding "catastrophically fast,"  reports The UNESCO Courier. 

Of course, the earth still produces a prodigious amount of food. But for how long can a burgeoning human population feed itself?  If the biodiversity dwindles? Various countries have responded to such concerns by setting up seed banks as insurance against the loss of important plants.  Some botanical gardens have taken up the mission of species preservation.  Science has supplied  the powerful new tools of genetic engineering.  But can seed banks ad science really solve the problem?  the following articles will examine this question. 

Next time: Is Man Destroying His Own Food Supply?/ Variety-Essential to Life

From the Awake! magazine