122 • Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



collections of teosinte, a wild relative of maize 

 found only in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. 

 The habitats for teosinte include some of Mex- 

 ico's best agricultural land, where it survives 

 in narrow strips of untilled soil along stone 

 fences bordering maize fields. As land use in- 

 tensifies, these strips are brought into cultiva- 

 tion. And isolated stands of teosinte that inter- 

 breed with maize can be genetically "swamped" 

 by the maize and lose their ability to disperse 

 seed. Thus, teosinte populations with unique 

 genetic characteristics of potential value for 

 maize breeding are threatened with extinction. 



Fortunately, the international agricultural re- 

 search institute that focuses on maize, Centro 

 Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo 

 (CIMMYT), is located near many of the sites 

 where teosinte still grows. The CIMMYT maize 

 staff and colleagues in the Mexican and Guate- 

 malan national maize research programs have 

 begun a monitoring program. The status of each 

 teosinte population is checked annually. The 

 intention is to take preservation action when- 

 ever a recognized population is placed in im- 

 mediate danger of extinction (9). 



Another way to safeguard genetic resources 

 outside protected areas would be to preserve 

 traditional agriculture systems in selected re- 

 gions. To do this, farming systems must become 

 more productive and produce more cash in- 

 come. Presumably, higher productivity means 

 applying scientific methods for crop produc- 

 tion and genetic development but keeping the 

 local varieties and livestock breeds. Some farm- 

 ing systems research does attempt this. For ex- 

 ample, the Centro Agronomico Tropical de In- 

 vestigaciones y Ensenanza has consulted with 

 the Kuna people of northeastern Panama about 

 agricultural development of their 60,000-hectare, 

 indigenous-reserve area in the context of a park 

 project (91). Similarly, the International Coun- 

 cil for Research in Agroforestry in Africa trains 

 researchers to identify opportunities for mar- 

 ginal improvements in traditional farming sys- 

 tems. But such work is outside the mainstream 

 of agricultural development and is at best a 

 modest and poorly funded effort. 



A complementary approach is for modern 

 farmers to maintain diverse varieties while rely- 



ing on other income sources. They generally 

 must turn to off-farm income or other, more 

 modern areas of their farms. In developing 

 countries, where traditional farming is still ex- 

 tensive and crop and livestock diversity are 

 greatest, continued planting of nonprofitable 

 traditional varieties would probably have to be 

 subsidized. 



Such an approach is not without precedent. 

 Native American farmers are paid to produce 

 seed of traditional cultivars in Arizona by a non- 

 profit organization. Native Seeds/SEARCH (58). 

 In developing countries, similar programs 

 might be administered by some of the same agri- 

 cultural research organizations that maintain 

 offsite germplasm collections. But the agricul- 

 tural research community has not identified this 

 as a priority for their limited funds. At best, 

 only a very small sample of diversity could be 

 maintained on subsidized traditional farms. It 

 seems that such subsidies would be as cost- 

 effective as marginal improvements in offsite 

 collections. 



Conservation As A Type 

 of Development 



Maintaining biological diversity by establish- 

 ing parks is becoming increasingly difficult be- 

 cause of demographic, economic, and politi- 

 cal pressures. The preservation approach to 

 conservation may become less common in the 

 future, especially in tropical developing countries 

 where diversity seems to be most threatened. 

 As a consequence, conservation organizations 

 and conservationists within development orga- 

 nizations, such as the Agency for International 

 Development (AID), the World Bank, and the 

 Organization of American States (OAS), have 

 begun to promote the concept that biological 

 diversity can be conserved where natural re- 

 sources are being developed if conservation is 

 considered a development activity. 



A recently published paper of the lUCN Com- 

 mission on Ecology (64) supports this concept: 



The idea of basing conservation on the fate 

 of particular species or even on the mainte- 

 nance of a natural diversity of species will 

 become even less tenable as the number of 



