Genetically engineered trees for plantation forests: key considerations for environmental risk assessment

Abstract

Forests are vital to the world's ecological, social, cultural and economic well-being yet sustainable provision of goods and services from forests is increasingly challenged by pressures such as growing demand for wood and other forest products, land conversion and degradation, and climate change. Intensively managed, highly productive forestry incorporating the most advanced methods for tree breeding, including the application of genetic engineering (GE), has tremendous potential for producing more wood on less land. However, the deployment of GE trees in plantation forests is a controversial topic and concerns have been particularly expressed about potential harms to the environment. This paper, prepared by an international group of experts in silviculture, forest tree breeding, forest biotechnology and environmental risk assessment (ERA) that met in April 2012, examines how the ERA paradigm used for GE crop plants may be applied to GE trees for use in plantation forests. It emphasizes the importance of differentiating between ERA for confined field trials of GE trees, and ERA for unconfined or commercial-scale releases. In the case of the latter, particular attention is paid to characteristics of forest trees that distinguish them from shorter-lived plant species, the temporal and spatial scale of forests, and the biodiversity of the plantation forest as a receiving environment.

Paving the Way for Lignin Valorisation: Recent Advances in Bioengineering, Biorefining and Catalysis

“…Forathorough review of environmental risk assessments for genetically-engineered trees, the reader is directed to other literature. [154] Adapted from Plant Sci. 13 Ce xperiments that suffered from insufficient resolution to distinguish subtle structural details, and are now widely employed for the investigation of lignin composition and structure.T he interested reader is referred to thorough recent review articles on the methodology, potential and limitations of NMR spectroscopy for the characterisation of lignin, even without requiring its isolation from the cell wall.…”

Potential policy reforms for a “more exotic” Canadian forest sector: Comparing Canada's plantation policies with those in Australia, New Zealand and the United States

“…If a "more exotic" forest sector is the objective of policy makers, then these policies must be a focus. Though there are indications that the public is reluctant to substitute more natural stands with exotic plantations on crown land (e.g., Haggman et al 2013), a public survey conducted by Rollins et al 2015 suggests that such concerns are somewhat alleviated when the public is provided information about, (i) the specific type of breeding technology to be employed, (ii) potential reductions in the forestry footprint that can occur from intensification, (iii) the potential to use trees for biofuels; and, (iv) the potential economic benefits of plantations that could improve the competitiveness of the forest industry. In general, studies indicate an opportunity for social compromise concerning exotic plantations.…”

“…Despite these potential benefits from exotic plantations, public perception of exotic plantations in Canada has not been entirely positive, with much of the concern focused on the perception that environmental quality is degraded (Haggman et al 2013). Some members of the public fear that changing these regulations to allow foreign and hybrid species would open the door for genetically engineered trees, and few things are as controversial as genetic engineering which Greenpeace calls "genetic pollution" .…”

Perception of biotech trees by Slovak university students – a comparative survey

“…GM trees were developed and studied in greenhouse or field conditions for improved woody quality, faster growth, herbicide tolerance, insect and disease resistance or abiotic stress tolerance. Of nearly 800 GM field trials approved worldwide, however, fewer than 50 were in Europe, mainly for research purposes (Haggman et al 2013) at strictly controlled dissemination and sexual maturity . Technical limitation, biosafety concerns and existing legislation hinder research progress and commercial application of GM tree technology in Europe.…”