By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
For many scientists, the Amazon forest is a wonderland of biodiversity.
Yet for many, especially Korean scientists, it represents a distant dream.
The opening of Labex-Korea in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, brings a new opportunity.
Labex is Brazil's overseas science and technology research office under the nation's Agricultural Research Organization, called Embrapa.
The Korean office, opened on Dec. 10, is located in the building of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) in Suwon under coordinator Mauricio Antonio Lopes.
The decision to open Labex-Korea came after nearly five years of feasibility studies.
During that time, President Lee Myung-bak and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in November 2008 and signed a memorandum of understanding on agricultural research cooperation.
Korea took the initiative early last year by sending one researcher to install Korea's virtual laboratory in Brasilia, which influenced Embrapa's decision to open its first Asian office in Korea, not in Japan, China or India.
One very important reason Brazil chose Korea was because "Korea is a good model for us ― how to use science technology and innovation for development," said Lopes.
The coordinator's expertise in plant genetics indicates where Embrapa's interest is laid.
The Amazon is home to abundant unknown plants. Plus, it's a vast area of land ― Brazil is the world's fifth largest country ― that produces various crops in a large quantity.
What is missing is technology that would allow Brazil to better file plant genetic resources and study them. And that's what Brazil wants to learn from Korea.
"Genetic resources are tremendously important now," Lopes said. "Because new rising problems will bring challenges to the climate, such as a rising temperature or a drought." And scientists will have to find a new breed of plant that would be adaptable to the climate change or to come up with a completely new plant.
Korea and Brazil see eye-to-eye on this subject.
Korea has cutting-edge technology in the area of genetic resources. What Korea is missing is resources to run research on.
"Discovery of a new antibiotic, energy source or medicine is deeply interconnected with the study of new plants. To this end, the Amazon forest has immense potential," Moon Hong-kil, director of the RDA, said.
Korea also has a keen interest in Brazil's bio-fuel technology, as well as in the field of genetic resources.
Brazil is in the forefront of bio-fuel production. Technology to extract ethanol from sugar cane is by far the most advanced in the world, according to Moon. Plus, the number of automobiles that run on ethanol-mixed fuel last year surpassed that using just gasoline.
"We are keen on learning the technology," he continued.
The Labex-Korea signals Brazil's priority is agriculture in its foreign policy.
As a producer and exporter of major crops ― corn and soybeans ― agriculture has been high on its foreign policy agenda.
According to the Korea International Trade Association, Brazil exported soybeans worth nearly $323 million to Korea in 2008.
The South American country's agricultural research institute has run overseas virtual laboratories for the last 18 years aiming at enhancing international collaboration.
Now, it operates branches in France, the Netherlands, the United States and Korea, and a new branch in the United Kingdom will open this year.
Brazil opened its embassy in Pyongyang early last year, which is in line with its agro-diplomacy.
Coordinator Lopes' presence is a priceless advantage.
"Having a full time staff here dedicated to interaction and dialogue makes quite a lot of difference," Lopes said.
He has already had opportunities to visit different research organizations, which have given him new ideas and contacts for future usage.
Embrapa has the ambition to use Labex-Korea as leverage for Labex-Asia. And this makes the RDA even more proud of what they have achieved.
Moon said, "Competition from other countries like China, India and Japan was quite fierce. And the plan Embrapa has for Asia gave rise to RDA and Korea as a host.
"We were very pleased with the Brazilian government's decision to open its first office in Korea. This deserves as much recognition as a recent nuclear contract Korea won from the United Arab Emirates."
Embrapa and the RDA had its first conference before Labex-Korea. It took place last year in Korea, and mushrooms were a topic for discussion.
"Brazilians were very interested in mushrooms," Moon said, recalling enthusiastic Brazilian researchers on Korea's mushroom diet and related technology.
Brazil is home to countless species of mushroom. Yet the majority of them are poisonous, and very few mushrooms make it into the Brazilian diet. "Brazilians are reluctant to eat mushrooms," Brazilian diplomat Daniel Fink said.
Embrapa, a 35-year-old institute, is one of the largest research institutes of its kind in the world.
The RDA is Korea's largest agricultural research institute. Opened in the early 20th century, the RDA was given its current name in 1962, contributing greatly to the nation-building efforts in the 1970s and 1980s.
Coordinator Lopes hoped his presence will help increase the volume of human exchanges between the two countries.
"It will be good to have an exchange of scientists and students to raise the level of understanding between the two countries. Training and exchange programs are always good."
And he expects additional staff from Brazil to arrive early this year.