UN urges action to protect forests' genetic diversity

Forest species are coming under increasing pressure from human activities and climate change, and face the risk of extinction, the UN war
It describes forest ecosystems as "essential refuges for biodiversity".

The call for action comes ahead of a key UN forestry meeting, which is being held in Rome at the end of June.

"Data from 86 countries illustrate that insufficient awareness of the importance of forest genetic resources... often translate into national policies that are partial, ineffective or non-existent," explained Linda Collette, secretary of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA).
Governments need to act and implement the global plan of action.

The action plan describes forest genetic resources (FGR) as the "heritable materials maintained within and among tree and other woody plant species that are of actual or potential economic, environmental, scientific or societal value".

opition
we should not cut down trees, as this will increased in gobal warming. I think the government should take action before things get bad to worst. people should also do their part by using the three"R" reduce reuse recycle.

GM viruses to turn plants into factories

Summery

Plants infected with genetically-modified (GM) viruses could become industrious factories for medicines and vaccines. The viruses would be engineered to produce useful proteins and the key, said Professor Michael Wilson of Horticulture Research International in Warwick, England, is the prodigious rate at which viruses can replicate themselves. Plant virus can make a million copies of itself in a single cell and each can have 2,000 coat proteins. This huge rate of reproduction means that 50% of the total mass of the plant could be the desired protein. Using plants in this way as sunlight-driven factories could produce cheap, edible medicines and vaccines for livestock or people. It is also possible to alter biological pathways in the plants so that the virus-manufactured proteins are used to create secondary products. Melanin, which could be used in sunscreen products has already been produced in this way.

opinion

I think this is better to have a plant factories, than humans going around to collect herbs to make into medicines. As factories could produce cheap, edible medicines and vaccines for livestock or people. To my opinion, having a plant factories is better and can produce own medicines.