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Genomics and the Global Challenges

Introduction The global bioeconomy is facing serious challenges that need to be addressed both globally and locally. Over the last fifty years 1/5 of the top soil, 1/5 of the agricultural land and 1/3 of the forests have been lost due to many factors like the intensive and unwise use of the natural bioresources, global warming, the urbanization, the constantly growing population etc. Over the next 50 years the world population will grow to more than 9 billion while 2/10 of the arable land will be lost due to salinity, acidity and soil erosion. In order to face these challenges the world needs to build a sustainable bioeconomy which implements the knowledge based utilization of the natural resources like plants, animals, water, soil etc. The European agri-food industry alone represents more than € 1618 billion annually and employs over 22,1 million people. The European food and drink industry transforms more than 70% of the agricultural raw materials produced in the EU and exports in excess of € 45 billion. Forestry and its related industries employ more than 3.5 million Europeans and contribute more than € 200 billion to the EU economy. Until 2005 The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) used to work by direct payment of a subsidy for crops planted. This led to overproduction and trade distortions in the late 1990s. In 2005 CAP has changed its priority from support to overproduction towards market-oriented, environmentally friendly and sustainable farming. The advances in the field of life sciences during the last 20 years have been tremendous. Our knowledge for the functioning of the genomes of living organisms has grown to a degree allowing us to use them in a sustainable way. The technology development has allowed the researchers to simultaneously study the function of thousands of genes, metabolites and proteins. As a result new scientific fields have emerged called genomics, metabolomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. These new scientific fields provide the opportunity to evaluate the biodiversity in order to protect it and to use it properly for the constantly growing demands of the humankind. Via utilizing our knowledge we can create better plants, animals, food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products while preserving the natural resources and biodiversity. In December 2000, plant genomics was recognized as a key priority at the millstone EC-supported Versailles Conference Agricultural research in European Research Area. The EC has the serious concern of lagging behind in this field not only from USA, but also from China, Japan and even Brazil. In 2002 the European Research Area Network (ERA NET) project was launched in order to overcome the fragmentation of EU science and to avoid the duplication of research programmes in the different EU countries. Bulgaria has joined the ERA Plant Genomics (ERA PG) network in 2007. In 2002 The European Commission adopted a Strategy for Europe on Life Sciences and Biotechnology. This was in response to the importance attached to life sciences by the European Council. It proposes a comprehensive roadmap up to 2010 and puts the sector at the forefront of those frontier technologies which are helping to take the EU towards its long term strategic goal established by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 of becoming “the most competitive and dynamic, knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs...” within a decade. By the year 2020 a 25% increase in the global population is predicted and that 97% of this increase will be in developing countries. On a global macro-economic scale the US is likely to remain dominant, followed by a transformed, market-based China; both countries being currently and in the future, fully committed to the application of plant biotechnology. By contrast the EU is entering into a complex period of enlargement and a rapidly changing economic and political environment. In particular, a highly regulated agriculture within the EU continues to move away from a “production driven” approach to an “environment enhancement” philosophy. Crop biotechnology must fit into this policy if it is to be successful in Europe. Nevertheless EU agriculture will need to be more efficient if it is to compete on a global market. Relative consumer expenditure on food in