The world was surprised when the giant Japanese shipment began pouring poisonous heavy fuel into the crystal clear waters of the coral reef lagoon in Mauritius last week.
While the country understands the magnitude of what it means to have such a high volume of highly poisonous heavy sheloil that it is also exposed to the sun, the race is underway to identify and save some of the rare species found in the country’s domain. turn of the destination’s location and spill zone.
While some are prominent, charismatic and well-known species, such as the rare pink dove or one of the endangered geckos or slycoons for which the fauna of Mauritius is known, many others would possibly be unexplored when tested visually, or even microscopic in nature.
However, it may be here that some of the genuine gems can be discovered amid Mauritius’ unique biodiversity.
The emerging box of artificial biology can offer a country like Mauritius a lifeline to drive the discovery of these rare species, as well as a springboard to make the bioeconomy the centerpiece of a new paradigm of sustainable economic expansion that can outline the next Thirty Years of Expansion.
This is why.
The nature of economic expansion is changing
With the pressures of climate change and the loss of biodiversity on a global scale, there is a growing desire to disconnect economic expansion from the environmental footprint. Covid-19 has accelerated this trend, with the EU pronouncing a stimulus package of approximately $1 trillion for coronavirus aimed at an ecological recovery.
In addition to sustainability, two of the other megatrends that define the next decade come with advances in artificial intelligence and the evolving box of artificial biology.
All of this can be mixed to place Mauritius in an exclusive position to capitalize on those tailwinds, while dealing with the worst ecological crisis in its history with the wonderful heavy fuel oil spill in its coral lagoon.
The truth of Mauritius’ exclusive biodiversity
Traditionally, the motivation to save biodiversity was more for tourism purposes (ecotourism), without any other genuine economic model. This has not allowed biodiversity-rich countries like Mauritius to fully exploit the prospect of this richness of nature, beyond visually pleasing species.
Now, with immediate advances in artificial biology, scientists are just beginning to realize the advertising price of part of this exclusive biodiversity.
The revolution of artificial biology is finding new uses of new biology that in the past only existed in sci-fi films.
In a Health section article, scientist Louis Metzger identifies medicines, commercial products, and agricultural products that are searched for and advertised around the world. Discover that the greatest promise is possibly in ocean genomics, especially in tropical climates with initial gradient adjustments, such as the edge of coral reefs.
As we only perceive the implications of marine genomics, the outlook can be enormous. Synthetic biology is lately one of the most popular generation sectors in Silicon Valley. A recent McKinsey report estimated that the extension of this sector could reach $4 trillion over the next decade.
As we begin to see the emergence of artificial biology unicorns, countries capable of creating the right public-private partnerships for collaboration can particularly drive the discovery of the next new cancer drug or even the Covid-19 remedy of a marine organism discovered around the reef. These are all potential billions of dollar opportunities.
And all of them have been threatened by the oil spill that exposes and fragile reef systems to a highly venomous substance, which will permanently adjust the biological profile of the region.
Synthetic biology to the rescue
One of the first steps needed in the face of a catastrophic biodiversity cave is to make a temporary series of what is in the lagoon and its landscape before it is lost forever.
Thanks to the latest advances in artificial biology, these DNA series are no bigger than a cell phone and can complete a series in minutes.
There’s an art in preparing a pattern and sequencing DNA (it’s as undeniable as a barcode reader in a supermarket), but we’re getting closer.
This means that a country like Mauritius has the exclusive opportunity to mobilize an army of researchers to collect and perform sample series, hitting them in a giant virtual library. This army, forced to conduct environmental research critical to anti-spill coverage, would then be the workforce of the future, trained in the latest technologies in one of the new sectors with more style.
Having this knowledge in a giant virtual library, with a strong public-private partnership, can allow other corporations at the forefront of artificial biology to shop through the catalog of attractive species found at each location. Since each artificial biology company will probably also look for other types of species in a library, this can allow for a lot of collaborations. Given the foreign legislation around the Nagoya Protocol prohibiting the transport and marketing of wildlife to other places without explicit authorization, this requires strong public-private collaboration.
It is also helping to identify the number of potentially valuable biological compounds that exist in the exclusive surroundings around southeastern Mauritius and the price of prospective advertising so that the country has a DNA that would possibly have evolved over millions of years very exclusively. Around.
If having a giant library of this genomic knowledge is essential for the competitiveness of the local bioeconomy, compared to other countries, then it is a race to collect as many species and habitats as possible, before they are lost forever.
I am a progressive economist aimed at innovation, sustainability and moral economic growth. Lately I’m working with leading generation corporations in Silicon Valley in
I am a progressive economist oriented to innovation, sustainability and moral economic expansion. Lately I’m working with Silicon Valley’s major generation corporations on sustainable expansion opportunities, mainly for low-income countries. I chair the LSE Ocean Financing Initiative, am a member of the WEF Global Network of Experts and a member of the Council of China of the CCICED. My e-book on Sustainability in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Soul of the Sea in the Age of the Algorithm, focuses on a revival of the oceans and climate and builds on my experience as an economics and innovation advisor to Fortune 500’s CEO and global governments. I have a degree in progression economics from harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the University of Cambridge.