restrictions on the exchange of information. The methods and procedures developed in the previous period for ecological labeling of foods are perfected and extended.
     Continuing the trend of the previous period, competition among countries virtually comes to a halt. Countries produce primarily for their domestic markets, without large surpluses. In a few cases, especially when a country afflicted by natural disasters or social crises needs assistance, food is exported and imported. In a few cases, there is also specialization of agricultural production by country, based on its tradition, culture, and agroecological capacity. Consumers, both within and outside LAC, increasingly value products with certification of origin and environmental protection. There is also a growing demand by consumers for nutritional and safe foods.
     In certain countries or regions, pests and diseases, as well as epidemics, are almost permanently reduced by improved socio-environmental management, use of appropriate technologies, mitigation of the loss of biodiversity, and improvement of soils. The results are: (1) an increase in production and marketing of healthy, higher-quality products; and (2) a greater added value in these products.
     The status of climate change is still worrisome throughout the period. Many countries encourage agricultural R&D on adaptation to climate change and implement production systems specifically designed for that purpose. There is a more robust capacity to adapt to and mitigate climate
change.
     Optimum governance conditions are consolidated in most of the region towards the end of the period. Agricultural development policies are pursued. Laws are adopted to limit the size of large corporations, applicable to both existing ones and new corporations that may be established, by restricting their acquisitions of and mergers with other companies. The purpose of this legislation is to guarantee a better balance of power among the different social stakeholders. A considerable portion of the fiscal resources obtained are used to implement initiatives for designing and establishing a new society. Many countries adopt regulations pertaining to the “Local Commerce Regionalization Initiative” (Carpenter et al., 2005), permitting cooperation among transnational companies if they use local products and if the value added is appropriate for all the partners.
     Strict standards and regulations on the composition, origin, and environmental safety of foods are applied both domestically and to erect trade barriers.
     A concern over the environment leads to restrictions on the participation of biofuels in the energy matrix of countries, to prevent the expansion of agricultural land. Alternatives, such as nuclear energy and solar energy captured and powered by nanotubes, emerge in the middle of the period, as clean, mastered alternatives to meet the energy requirements of a growing world population. An extensive debate begins on meeting energy needs by using these alternative sources of energy instead of biofuels and the consequent expansion of agricultural land.      The processes and activities initiated in the previous period to improve education are pursued. Local educational systems achieve good results, after overcoming problems related to financing and teacher training.

    In LAC many cooperative work arrangements are consolidated, in view of the realization that R&D is increasingly more expensive but essential for the development of the countries of the region. These arrangements even include the foundation of regional R&D institutions to achieve a critical mass of researchers and increase the probability of important progress in the new technologies (biotechnology and nanotechnology). They are also a way to considerably reduce operating costs.

There are many projects shared among countries that were designed to obtain the scientific support of this guarantee of the production and supply of healthy, quality food. Biotechnology and nanotechnology are used to generate knowledge on the reaction and resilience of ecosystems (Carpenter et al., 2005), but the interaction between them is not yet fully understood. This is reflected in the scant attention given to the impact of this interaction that results in episodes of contamination of many natural resources found in different countries. In other words, there is generally no awareness that waste products thrown into a river that runs through many countries is going to cause the contamination of drinking water in other communities, for instance.
     By the end of the past decade, indigenous and local communities begin to reap substantial benefits from the appropriation of formal knowledge in the most widely varied areas. As a result of this and the fact that they are highly organized, they receive monetary income from various products derived from agriculture or biodiversity obtained on the basis of this knowledge.
     The failure to care for common resources, such as oceans, cross-border rivers, the atmosphere, wildlife, etc., enhances the value attached to traditional knowledge. It is increasingly more systematized and its principles are elucidated by scientists from the communities themselves, who use formal knowledge in this effort. These situations that are so favorable to traditional knowledge are not found uniformly throughout the world or even throughout LAC.

3.4.4.2.2 AKST systems
The existence of barriers promotes R&D on origin certification systems and ecological labeling of foods, and the relationship between environmental services and climate change, and its reciprocal effect on agriculture and ecosystems. There is also a greater interest in (1) conservation and management of pollinating insects; (2) prospecting for and the sustainable management of plants; (3) identification and study of current and potential exotic invasive species; (4) the use of genetically modified organisms and their impact on agrobiodiversity; and (5) the impact of agricultural nanotechnology on human health and the environment. An important concern for R&D during this period is the development of sustainable productive systems capable of large-scale food production. R&D systems are directed to all social groups, but focus especially on the most vulnerable groups. The free exchange of information and scientists among countries, and the growing value attached to science guarantee the technical capacity of the R&D system in many of the LAC countries. Biotechnology and nanotechnology are disciplines that play an important role in R&D projects. The incorporation of traditional knowledge increases.