Food security, crop protection, biodiversity, and human and environmental health are among the main needs and concerns of society. Modern biotechnology and life sciences represent a constantly evolving area that is key for the rational use of natural resources - resources that in turn are indispensable for societal development. This book features the outcomes of the IV International Biotechnology and Biodiversity Congress, held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2018. It includes extensive reviews of the trends in agricultural and forestry biotechnology, molecules and materials biodiscovery, ethnomedicine, environmental impact and bioindustry research, describing many of these topics from the Latin America perspective and showing how the biodiversity and ancient knowledge of these countries are vital for worldwide sustainable development.

"Development Connections" takes stock of recent advances in what is broadly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)--cell phones, computers, and related Internet applications, as well as software advances that aim at improving the welfare of societies by empowering them. It is a comparative look at Latin America and ICTs in relation to the rest of the world and other countries in the region and the trends for widespread use of ICTs. In turn, the authors seek to discover how information and telecommunication technologies affect both the public and private sectors of the region and how they can optimize ICT returns to society. Projects focus on the use of ICTs for education, health, finance, environment, and labor. ICT trends are crucial to policy makers and ICT development is critical to the future of the region.

This book examines how foreign policy can adapt to the challenge of globalization. Two central questions are posed:how can foreign policy defend or project statist political communities using soft power within a global information space? Does soft power affect foreign policy by undermining statist community within the same global information space?

Food security, crop protection, biodiversity, and human and environmental health are among the main needs and concerns of society. Modern biotechnology and life sciences represent a constantly evolving area that is key for the rational use of natural resources - resources that in turn are indispensable for societal development. This book features the outcomes of the IV International Biotechnology and Biodiversity Congress, held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2018. It includes extensive reviews of the trends in agricultural and forestry biotechnology, molecules and materials biodiscovery, ethnomedicine, environmental impact and bioindustry research, describing many of these topics from the Latin America perspective and showing how the biodiversity and ancient knowledge of these countries are vital for worldwide sustainable development.

This book examines how foreign policy can adapt to the challenge of globalization. Two central questions are posed:how can foreign policy defend or project statist political communities using soft power within a global information space? Does soft power affect foreign policy by undermining statist community within the same global information space?

"Development Connections" takes stock of recent advances in what is broadly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)--cell phones, computers, and related Internet applications, as well as software advances that aim at improving the welfare of societies by empowering them. It is a comparative look at Latin America and ICTs in relation to the rest of the world and other countries in the region and the trends for widespread use of ICTs. In turn, the authors seek to discover how information and telecommunication technologies affect both the public and private sectors of the region and how they can optimize ICT returns to society. Projects focus on the use of ICTs for education, health, finance, environment, and labor. ICT trends are crucial to policy makers and ICT development is critical to the future of the region.