What can science do to help post-conflict Colombia? A new project has an ambitious programme for social change based on the nation's greatest riches: its biodiversity. Essential to this will be giving people new skills to make the most of opportunities and to kick-start a bioeconomy. The scientist who initiated the project, and for whom this new approach to science is so important, is happy to be interviewed. She is Professor Federica Di Palma from the Earlham Institute in Norwich. Her and her colleagues' expertise in genetic analysis will be used to characterise Colombia’s “megadiversity” and boost agricultural incomes without converting more land. They will also train experts in Colombia and help them set up similar facilities.
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