•     Bioenergy

•     Biotechnology

•     Climate change

•     Human health

•     Natural resource management

•     Traditional knowledge and community based innova­tion

•     Trade and markets

•     Women in agriculture

     The Global and Sub-Global assessments contributed ex­perts on these issues to develop key messages and integrate their treatment across the reports.

1.1.3 Conceptual framework

1.1.3.1 Conceptual diagram AKST is the intersection of knowledge, science and technol­ogy (including that developed in other realms) with agricul­tural systems. It is influenced by and draws from other kinds of knowledge and technology in important ways not con­fined to food production. For example, advances in trans­portation and communications technology have been key to the globalization and integration of global value chains.

      While the term "AKST" is often used in the IAASTD as if it were a consistent, coherent bloc, there are many dif­ferent forms and permutations of AKST that have different development histories and impacts. For example, the AKST underlying traditional practices of hunting or grazing on communal lands is vastly different from the AKST leading to the patenting of goats that have been genetically engi­neered to express human lysozyme in their milk. Therefore, in referring to drivers of AKST or impacts in specific circum-

stances, it is important to clarify which forms of AKST are under consideration.

      The conceptual diagram (Figure 1-2) depicts in a very general way how indirect and direct drivers of change affect development and sustainability goals through AKST. Note that AKST is a subset of science and technology, which is only one of several indirect drivers of the development and sustainability goals.

1.1.3.2 Drivers of change

The direct drivers of AKST highlighted in the conceptual diagram are  food demand and consumption, the  avail­ability and management of natural resources, land use, climate change, energy and labor. These drivers of change are influenced in turn by a set of indirect drivers, includ­ing demographics; economics and international trade; the socio-political context; the broader context of science and technology; education, culture and ethics; and the biogeo-physical environment. Chapter 4 examines the complexities of how AKST has interacted with these factors over the past 50 years. AKST is a driver of agrifood system changes, but it is also influenced by these changes.

1.1.3.3 AKST dynamics

Actors and networks are the agents or groups of agents that generate, disseminate, use or control AKST, e.g., public and private   agricultural   research   organizations,   universities, public extension services, independent agricultural consul­tants and other businesses, the International Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), supply chains and civil society organizations (Figure 1-3).

     Processes are the avenues by which AKST are devel­oped, transmitted and used, and avenues that determine