Rome, Italy
November, 2007
FAO-BiotechNews - November 2007
(Excerpts of relevance to seed professionals)
Source:
http://www.fao.org/biotech
Bioenergy and agricultural
biotechnologies
On 12
October 2007, a half-day seminar on "The role of
agricultural biotechnologies for production of bioenergy in
developing countries" was held at FAO Headquarters, Rome,
jointly organised by the FAO Working Group on Biotechnology
and the FAO Working Group on Bioenergy, with the support of
the US mission. Presentations from the meeting are now
available on the web, covering topics such as global
perspectives on production of biotechnology-based bioenergy;
genomics and bioenergy; and bioethanol production via
enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass. See
http://www.fao.org/biotech/seminaroct2007.htm or contact
biotech-website@fao.org for more information.
Launch
of FAO-BiotechNews-Ar
The
FAO Working Group on Biotechnology has just launched
FAO-BiotechNews-Ar, an e-mail newsletter providing updates
of news and event items in Arabic that are relevant to
applications of biotechnology in food and agriculture in
developing countries. It is the Arabic version of the
English-language newsletter FAO-BiotechNews. The main focus
of its news and event items is on the activities of FAO, of
other United Nations (UN) agencies/bodies and of the 15
research centres supported by the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), in addition to
activities of a few major non-UN inter-governmental
organizations.
See more details about FAO-BiotechNews-Ar at
http://www.fao.org/biotech/welar.pdf (in Arabic).
To subscribe, send an e-mail to
mailserv@mailserv.fao.org with the subject blank and the
following one-line text message: subscribe
FAO-BiotechNews-Ar-L
Codex
Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology - 7th session
report
The
report of the 7th Session of the Codex Ad Hoc
Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from
Biotechnology, held on 24-28 September 2007 in Chiba, Japan,
is now available. Among the conclusions reached at the
meeting, the Task Force agreed to forward to the 31st
Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (to be held
from 30 June to 5 July 2008) for adoption at Step 5/8 the i)
Proposed Draft Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety
Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Animals;
ii) Proposed Draft Annex on Food Safety Assessment of Foods
Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants Modified for Nutritional
or Health Benefits; and iii) Proposed Draft Annex on Food
Safety Assessment in Situations of Low-level Presence of
Recombinant-DNA Plant Material in Food. See the report
(ALINORM 08/31/34), together with the provisional agenda
providing links to the meeting's documents, at
http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/archives.jsp?year=08
or contact
codex@fao.org for further information.
Biotechnology and biosafety in West Asia and North Africa
On
8-10 September 2007, a regional consultation on
"Biotechnology and biosafety for agriculture and the
environment in the West Asia and North Africa sub-region"
was held in Aleppo, Syria, sponsored by FAO, the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International
Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
Its objective was to develop a proposal for an integrated
regional framework on biotechnology and biosafety involving
major stakeholders. See a news story about the workshop at
http://www.icarda.org/News/2007/12Sep07/12Sep07.htm or
contact
kakoli.ghosh@fao.org for more information.
FAO
Biotechnology Glossary - Vietnamese translation
The
FAO Glossary of Biotechnology for Food and Agriculture has
been translated into Vietnamese, published by the Center for
Information and Technological Transfer of Biology (CITB), in
Vietnam, through an arrangement with FAO. The book provides
in English the same 3,196 terms and definitions contained in
the original glossary as well as their Vietnamese
translation. The glossary provides consolidated,
comprehensive and accessible definitions of terms and
acronyms that are used regularly in biotechnology, including
genetic engineering, and closely allied fields. The original
English version of the glossary was written by A. Zaid, H.G.
Hughes, E. Porceddu and F. Nicholas. See
http://www.fao.org/biotech/vietgloss.htm or contact
nguyenbahai@hn.vnn.vn for more information.
Website
of the Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity
Building (GIPB) launched
The
website of the Global Partnership Initiative for Plant
Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) has now been launched.
This multi-stakeholder initiative, whose Secretariat will be
initially hosted by FAO, aims to enhance the capacity of
developing countries to improve crops for food security and
sustainable development through better plant breeding and
delivery systems.
Among
the items of interest, the website includes preliminary
results from an electronic consultation process, involving
stakeholders from international organisations, foundations,
universities and research institutes, civil society
associations and national and regional bodies, that took
place from July to September 2007. The results of this
consultation define the longer-term priorities and
strategies for the GIPB and will guide formulation of its
organizational and implementation framework. See
http://km.fao.org/gipb/ or contact
gipb@fao.org for more information.
National reports on implementation of the Cartagena Protocol
In
accordance with Article 33 of the Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety, each Party is required to monitor the
implementation of its obligations under the Protocol and to
report to the Conference of the Parties serving as the
meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP-MOP) on measures
taken to implement the Protocol. In this respect, First
Regular National Reports have now been submitted by Parties
and are available at
http://www.cbd.int/reports/list.shtml?type=cpb1. Contact
secretariat@cbd.int if requiring more information.
World
Development Report 2008
The
World Development Report 2008 has just been published by the
World Bank, entitled 'Agriculture for development'. The
report is split into three main parts: what can agriculture
do for development? (part I, chapters 1-3); what are
effective instruments in using agriculture for development?
(part II, chapters 4-9); and how can
agriculture-for-development agendas best be implemented?
(part III, chapters 10-11). Chapter 7 is dedicated to
'Innovating through science and technology' and considers
also the role of agricultural biotechnologies. See the full
report at
http://go.worldbank.org/LBJZD6HWZ0 (in English, with
overviews in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese,
Russian and Spanish) or contact
wdr2008@worldbank.org for more information. The World
Development Report is produced on an annual basis, this
being its 30th year, and is the World Bank's major
analytical publication. The last one focusing on agriculture
was in 1982 (entitled 'Agriculture and economic
development').
UNEP-GEF project on national biosafety frameworks
The
UNEP-GEF global Project on Development of National Biosafety
Frameworks (NBFs) began in June 2001. A total of 92
countries have now finished the project and have published
draft NBFs on the web. See
http://www.unep.ch/biosafety/news.htm#nbf or contact
biosafety@unep.ch for more information.
IPRs
and biotechnology - WIPO seminar
On 2-3
May 2007, the World Intellectual Property Organization
organised, in cooperation with the Industrial Property
Office of the Slovak Republic, an international seminar on
"Current challenges in intellectual property rights and
biotechnology" in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. Presentations
from the seminar are now available on the web. See
http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/2007/ipr_bsk/ or contact
publicinf@wipo.int for more information.
OECD
Biotechnology Update 18
Issue
number 18 (September 2007) of the OECD Biotechnology Update
is now available. Presented by OECD's Internal Co-ordination
Group for Biotechnology, the 24-page newsletter provides
updated information on the diverse activities at the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
related to biotechnology. It contains items on news, recent
and future events, recent and future publications and
provides web and e-mail contacts for the different areas of
activity. See
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/44/39314743.pdf (389 KB)
or contact
icgb@oecd.org for more information.
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