Food safety is a major issue in the GMO debate. Potential concerns include alteration in nutritional quality of foods, toxicity, antibiotic resistance, and allergenicity from consuming GM foods. The concepts and techniques used for evaluating food and feed safety have been outlined (WHO, 2005b), but the approval process of GM crops is considered inadequate (Spök et al., 2004). Under current practice, data are provided by the companies owning the genetic materials, making independent verification difficult or impossible. Recently, the data for regulatory approval of a new Bt-maize variety (Mon863) was challenged. Significant effects have been found on a number of measured parameters and a call has been made for more research to establish their safety (Seralini et al., 2007). For example, the systemic broad spectrum herbicide glyphosate is increasingly used on herbicide resistant soybean, resulting in the presence of measurable concentrations of residues and metabolites of glyphosate in soybean products (Arregui et al., 2004). In 1996, EPA reestablished pesticide thresholds for glyphosate in various soybean products setting standards for the presence of such residues in herbicide resistant crop plants (EPA, 1996ab). However, no data on long-term consumption of low doses of glyphosate metabolites have been collected.

3.2.3.2.3 Access to assets

Increased returns from agriculture result in improvements in the educational status of children.

The successful application of AKST results in improvements in the access of children to education. Enrollment in primary education has increased in developing countries (86% overall). This is highest in southern Asia (89%) but lower in some countries of Africa, western Asia and Oceania (UN, 2006a). Numbers of children out of school are much greater in poor rural areas (30%) than in urban areas (18%); 20% of girls and 17% of boys do not attend primary school. A key factor linking agriculture and education is that women are more likely to invest their assets in children's food and education when they have control of the assets and the benefits from increased productivity (Quisumbing and Maluccio, 1999) (see 3.2.3.4).

Access and rights to natural assets (agricultural, grazing, forest land and water) and the conditions and security of that access, critically affect the livelihoods of many of the world's poorest households.

Land tenure systems are dynamic and subject to change; e.g., in situations of population expansion, competition for land for new investment opportunities, urban expansion and road development (Platteau, 1996; Barbier, 1997; Toulmin and Quan, 2000; Chauveau et al., 2006). Differences in access to land resources relate to status and power with migrants, women and people of lower social status being the most vulnerable to expropriation (Blarel, 1994; Jayne et al., 2003). Disputes over land are common in much of Africa

(Bruce and Migot-Adholla, 1994; Place, 1995; Deininger and Castagnini, 2006). Households with land are generally better placed to make productive use of their own resources (especially labor), as well as to access capital for investment (Deininger, 2003). Conversely, land concentration and increasing landlessness may give rise to conflicts and threaten social stability, unless alternative investments and opportunities are available (Gutierrez and Borras, 2004; Mushara and Huggins, 2004; Cotula et al., 2006). In many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, there are a number of coexisting systems of authority related to land. The main contrast is between customary and statutory law, although these categories mask multiple secondary rights. Security of land tenure is seen as a precondition for intensifying agricultural production and as a prerequisite for better natural resources management and sustainable development and therefore a factor for poverty alleviation (Maxwell and Wiebe, 1998; Mzumara, 2003). Secure tenure is also important to facilitate access to credit and input markets; however, conclusions drawn about the effects of land tenure systems on investment and productivity vary considerably. Policies and programs establishing individual rights in land through land titling have not produced clear evidence showing tenure has led to greater agricultural growth (Quan, 2000), or to improved efficiency (Place and Hazell, 1993). In contrast, without supportive policies, it is difficult for poor small-scale farmers, particularly women, to enter emerging land markets (Toulmin and Quan, 2000; Quan et al., 2005). Despite women's key role in agricultural production, in many countries women's rights over land are less than those of men (Place, 1995; Lastarria-Cornhiel, 1997; Meinzen-Dick et al., 1997; Jackson, 2003). Formal rights to land for women can have an impact on intra-household decision making, income pooling, and women's overall role in the household economy as well as empowering their participation in community decision making (World Bank, 2005b). Government land registration processes have sometimes further entrenched women's disadvantage over land by excluding their rights and interests (Lastarria-Cornhiel, 1997). In some countries, land policy strategies have explored alternatives that limit open access while avoiding the rigidity of individual private ownership and titles; for example management by user groups (Ostrom, 1994) and more open participatory and decentralized policies and institutions for land and land rights management. Regarding water resources, poor communities are often adversely affected by limited access to water for drinking, domestic use, agriculture and other productive purposes. Water access has been improved by institutional and policy innovations in water management and water rights (see 3.2.4.1).

Large scale applications of modern AKST in the water sector have resulted in winners and losers among rural communities.

Large scale irrigation schemes have had important impacts on livelihoods. However, while building the value of assets for some, the displacement of populations is one of the notable negative consequences of irrigation schemes, especially