Biotech to fight dengue

La Prensa:

During the event, it was reported that the British firm Oxitec plans to release thousands of mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to fight dengue in Panama and Costa Rica, as well as in the Florida Keys.

I think this is probably a good thing, but it's amazing that it's being done almost completely without government regulation. It's another example where Latin America and its political leaders need to catch up to modern technology or risk having things happen in the region without any debate. Where are the politicians in the region who are interested in regulating and encouraging/discouraging biotechnology and genetically modified insects to combat disease?

Bringing biotechnology to mining

A few days ago, I offered brief speculation on robotics being used in Latin American mining projects. The BBC highlights a potentially different trend with a Chilean firm using bacteria to extract copper. The microbes break down the various minerals in the rocks until only copper remains. It concludes:

If it works, one day it might be possible to get mine for copper without digging huge pit mines. Instead, miners would simply drill two holes to introduce a solution full or with microbes, and then collect it once it contains copper.

It sounds like the technology may be closer in some ways than the robotics.

Drones going mainstream

Great article in today's Washington Times. Read it in full. Then think about the implications for Latin America when you know the following groups will have access to unmanned aerial vehicles in the coming decade:

• Militaries
• Police
• Private security contractors
• Organized criminal groups
• Gangs
• Human Rights NGOs
• Shipping companies
• Schools

I recently gave several talks on the implications of criminal groups and private security organizations getting drones in Latin America. It changes the security environment in ways that will be tough for the already overwhelmed governments to manage. 

At a more general level, in some places, the regulations aren't in place for anyone to be using these devices. Where there are regulations, they are often poorly enforced.

Cash and crime

Slate tackles a topic I was considering writing on: would eliminating physical money change or reduce crime?

While saying that electronic funds would simplify tracking and auditing certain crimes for government authorities, the article offers this anecdote from the region:

Latin America already offers a glimpse of one such substitute mechanism in action. As its economy grows ever more fluid (most South and Central Americans bank on their phones, using mobile apps that offer accounting and brokerage services), people have turned to “stored value cards,” which hold a fixed amount of money and can be bought or sold like any other good. Since they don’t draw from a bank account—funds and data are maintained by the card issuers and accessed by scanning a magnetic stripe—these cards are much harder to track. In a cashless world, SVCs might join precious metals and gems as currencies favored for illegal transactions.

There are still too many people in Latin America lacking access to basic identity documents much less bank accounts to make a cashless society possible. But the presence of bank accounts and credit cards has reduced the amount of hard currency. 

There is probably a middle ground on this question that Latin America is approaching. For example, Mexico has banned large cash purchases to avoid drug money being used to buy cars, yachts and property. It's far from the cashless society and every cup of coffee being tracked electronically, but it's a reasonable policy given today's technology and the access the average citizen has to it.

A virtual Summit of the Americas 2

When I wrote the previous post on using video teleconferencing for presidential meetings, I didn't realize that one was already planned. Oppenheimer reports that the presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile recently held a virtual summit over video teleconference.

That's a great start and more can be done. These don't just have to be private discussions among president. Public events and participation by civil society and the business community are possible as well.

Bill Gates on innovation in agriculture

Bill Gates speech at the FAO:

The digital revolution also provides opportunities to collect better data. In an age when a satellite can determine instantly how much wheat is in a field, it is a shame to ask countries to use limited resources to send enumerators around with pen, paper, and tape measure. What we get is a lot of wasted time and inaccurate or incomplete data. The digital revolution can improve the quality of critical data while freeing up people to do other high-impact work.

The problem is that the country programs, agencies, and research centers don’t have expertise in digital agriculture, and they don’t have the time to build it from scratch. The real expertise lies with private sector companies, and with rapidly growing countries like Brazil and China where the agricultural sector is booming.

Gates also spoke about using genome sequencing technology, which has rapidly declined in cost over the last decade, to improve yields and have plants resistance to drought and disease. While his remarks generally focused on sub-Saharan Africa, they certainly apply to the agricultural sector in Latin America.

A virtual Summit of the Americas

Sure, there are benefits to in-person meetings. The presidents of the Americas should continue to meet every three years.

But with technology today, they could also hold public or private video chats as often as they want.

So, while maintaining the in-person Summit every three years, why not do a virtual Summit once every year? Get all the presidents in the hemisphere on to a Google Hangout. Have an agenda prepared. Have them talk publicly. Then have them do a few private meetings.

This certainly can apply to other multilateral or even bilateral events. The president of Brazil doesn't need to fly to Colombia to do a bilateral press conference. They could do a virtual one today. The presidents of ALBA don't all need to run to Caracas. They could just set up a multi-person conference.

As I said, I don't think we should replace all in-person meetings. But why aren't there more virtual meetings among high-level officials that include a public component like a press conference? It's completely possible today and should be done.