Table 1-2. Geographic regions and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Source: CIA, 2008

* These countries, although located in South America, are frequently considered as part of the Caribbean due to their cultural affiliation with the rest of the Caribbean region.

central role in the different forms of international discourse. Climate change, for example, has been included as an item for discussion at the United Nations Security Council, even though not all the members of the Security Council approve of its inclusion. There are also multiple international agreements related to biodiversity and agriculture, which are crucial in an agricultural development agenda for the region, mainly when knowledge, science and technology are thought of as instruments for propelling such development. The most important initiatives for harmonizing regulatory frameworks in agriculture include (1) the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which seeks to protect biodiversity in light of the risks associated with genetically modified organisms (transgenics); (2) the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), which seeks to prevent the dissemination and introduction of pests that affect plants and plant products and to promote appropriate measures for combating pests; (3) Codex Alimentarius, created in 1963 by the FAO and WHO to develop food standards, regulations and other related texts, such as codes of practices under the Joint FAO/ WHO Food Standards Program; (4) the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) established to foster the protection and effective use of intellectual property worldwide through cooperation with member states and other interested parties; (5) the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), an intergovernmental organization; and (6) the International Treaty on Phytogenetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

          There are other agreements related to controls on international trade and the use of potentially toxic substances, which largely have to do with agriculture because they include chemical pesticides that pose a high risk to the environment and human and animal health, such as: (1) the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Transport of Toxic Substances; (2) the FAO Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides; (3) the Montreal Protocol for Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; (4) the Rotterdam Convention, which established the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure for trade in prohibited or severely restricted substances; and (5) the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which includes more than a dozen organochlorinated pesticides, including DDT (UNEP, 2001; Bejarano, 2004).

          As a result of these global changes, the swift restructuring of agriculture and the global food system is striking. Reflecting the nature, direction, priorities and contradictions of current global changes, both agriculture and the food system are being transformed by several changes. For example, agriculture and the food system are and will be profoundly restructured with the application of techniques associated with the revolutions in modern biotechnology (genetic engineering), nanotechnology, robotics and information technology and by the construction of transnational productive chains transforming the nature of productive and power relations, in which emerging global actors decide on the nature, direction and priorities of the new transnational agriculture. With the emergence of new scientific and technological revolutions, agribusiness, currently aimed at food production, is working on non-food products, such as energy products (biofuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol) and new fibers resulting from biotechnology and