The session raised a whole range of problems. When it came to discussing solutions, time ran out. Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden in the us made some relevant observa-tions: "Food security has increased, but many people in the world still go hungry.' He said extinction rate of species has increased from 1-10 species per year to several hundred species per year, even as only 1.6 million of the approximately 10 million species have been classified. J M Lenne of International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid tropics (icrisat) in Andhra Pradesh noted that more than 87 per cent of the total permanent arable cropland in India was degraded and unfit for cultivation.

Nutritional needs for human health
National research professor V Ramalingaswami made a presentation on