Narrow Results

Website on Bioethics Launched in Singapore.

Chinese Drugstores Short of Registered Chemists.

Legal Wrangle Sheds Light on Slimming Secrets.

International Conference on Bioinformatics 2002 to be Held in Thailand.

Green Revolution Hero Bows Out.

Singapore Welcomes a Life Science Mogul.

Australia Isolates “Green Revolution” Rice Gene.

DNA-based Detection of Banana Disease.

Australia Discovers Stem Cells for Thymus Regrowth.

Edible Animal Vaccines Available Soon in HK.

Novel Female Contraceptive Developed from Tobacco.

Indian Scientists Develops Effective Drug Delivery for Liver Cancer.

New Cholera Strain Identified.

Singapore and Collaborators Announce Genome Sequence of Fugu rubripes.

Japan Identifies Gene that Causes Type 1 Diabetes.

Korean Doctors Discover Superbacteria in Asia.

PCB in Cooking Oil Associated with Fewer Male Births.

This paper deals with conceptual and methodological issues arising in ex post environmental impact assessment of agricultural research. It presents a case study of approaches used (and not used) and challenges associated with the ex post assessment of environmental impacts of research supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The paper illustrates the difficulty of tracking the global effects of agricultural research on natural resources due to a diffused and complex set of decision variables effecting intensification and expansion of land in agriculture, primarily in developing countries. The central point in ex post impact assessment concerns costs and benefits (in terms of relevant budget constraints and time frame for decision) of in-depth empirical versus qualitative analysis. Within this context we conclude that the empirical counterfactual approach ("with" and "without" research) is not an option. As a second best alternative, it is inferred from cases and global statistics that: in specific instances the introduction of high yielding varieties did have unintended impacts on natural resources, in part due to policy distortion and in part due to unforeseen chain reactions in the ecosystems. But on net balance, increased yields attributable to international agricultural research have had positive environmental impacts in the form of net land saving.