With the increasing loss of forests, the need for their renewal by natural means is imminent. Thanks to the Kyoto treaty demanding reduction in greenhouse gases, plantations of fast growing and high yielding tree species have thrived around the world. In the past few years, there has been a lot of progress in the area of forest biotechnology. Genetic modification (GM) has introduced desirable traits such as insect tolerance, herbicide resistance, sterility, better pulping quality and fast growth. The plantation of GM trees, however, raises the concerns of possible damage to the environment, impact to biodiversity and possible gene flow into natural forests. These issues need to be addressed before there is any wide acceptance of GM trees. Other non-GM biotechnology techniques such as mass propagation of elite tree individuals through meristematic propagation or somatic embryogenesis are more acceptable and have been widely used.
Forest biotechnology - thriving despite controversy