About

Responsible Use:
Forest Biotechnology Principles

Letter from the Institute of Forest Biotechnology

Biotech trees The Institute of Forest Biotechnology defines 'biotech trees' as: “Any tree that is a product of targeted genetic engineering, and the progeny of these types of trees propagated through sexual or asexual methods.” will affect the future of our forests. In fact, they already have. Today there are over one million biotech poplar trees with the Bt geneThe Bt gene produces a protein toxic to some insect pests. This gene is produced by a bacterium in the soil called Bacillus thuringensis and is used in a number of biotech crops including corn, cotton, and soybeans. that were established on commercial plantations in China in 2003. There are also commercial biotech papaya trees in the United States.

 

We need healthy forests. We need the ecosystem services forests provide. We need sustainably managed trees that are a source of paper, packaging, housing, food, and renewable energy. With a growing world population we do not have enough sustainably managed forests to fill all these needs. Instead we have an onslaught of invasive threats damaging our forests and illegal logging. Download the 1-page summary of the Responsible Use initiative for more information regarding the need for this work.

 

Forest biotechnology can be a powerful tool against these threats. Scientists have already designed trees that are resistant to diseases and changing climates, and biotech trees that produce more wood fiber with less inputs on less land than conventional trees.

 

The Responsible Use: Forest Biotechnology Principles will guide long-term stewardship of biotech trees. People have highly disparate opinions about biotech trees. We will probably never see a day when everyone agrees on whether to use biotech trees, but that should not deter us from making stewardship principles to help people make smart decisions about how to use these advanced trees.


These Principles are in recognition that responsibly used biotech trees have the potential to benefit society, the environment, economies, and cultures in ways that other trees cannot.

  • Biotech trees will benefit people, the environment, or both
  • Risks or benefit of biotech trees will be assessed
  • Transparency is important - stakeholders will be engaged
  • Social equity and indigenous rights are important and will be respected
  • Biotech trees use must follow regulations of the appropriate country Forest biotechnology

The Responsible Use initiative will help protect the future of our forests. This website is the main vehicle for delivering the science, dialogue, and stewardship this initiative requires. The Institute of Forest Biotechnology (IFB) is managing this initiative by working with Sponsors, Forest Biotechnology Partners, experts from around the world, and any interested stakeholders.

 

In addition to the principles above, this initiative is grounded in basic truths about forests and biotechnology:

  • Forests are important to people
  • Biotechnology is a powerful tool
  • Biotech trees have the potential for unique and diverse applications
  • Biotech trees are being planted around the world
  • Oversight of biotech trees is different around the world

The framework of the Responsible Use initiative builds on these real-world realities with practices that provide a guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of using biotech trees responsibly.

 

The IFB is dedicated to discovering the social and environmental effects of using these technologies through science, dialogue, and stewardship.


We would like to thank our Forest Biotechnology Partners and our Initiative Sponsors for providing the technical and financial resources to make this work possible. Together, we are the most comprehensive information source on forest biotechnology – anywhere.

 

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Having a process that is transparent and inclusive of a wide range of perspectives is critical to determine what is ‘responsible’ and based on science. We also need practices that are not so prescriptive that a practitioner wanting to be a responsible user of forest biotechnology cannot afford to put these principles into action.

 

Draft reports, meeting documents, and all other non-proprietary material relating to this initiative is available online at responsibleuse.org. There is also an online form where anyone interested in participating in the development of these principles can comment. These comments are available to the public for review; more importantly, they will be used by the Implementation Committee when developing the principles.