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Dear Subscribers,

Here is Update 1-2016 of FAO-BiotechNews. 

As usual, we welcome any feedback. 

With best wishes

John

John Ruane
The Coordinator of FAO-BiotechNews, 11-7-2016
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),
E-mail address: [log in to unmask] 
FAO Biotechnology website: http://www.fao.org/biotech/ (in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian)

*** NEWS *** (http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-news/en/)

1) Outputs from the FAO international symposium on agricultural biotechnologies 

The FAO international symposium on "The role of agricultural biotechnologies in sustainable food systems and nutrition" took place from 15 to 17 February 2016 at FAO headquarters, Rome. Its objective was to explore the application of biotechnologies for the benefit of family farmers in developing sustainable food systems and improving nutrition in the context of unprecedented challenges, including climate change. 

The symposium encompassed the crop, livestock, forestry and fishery sectors and covered a broad range of biotechnologies, from low-tech approaches such as those involving use of microbial fermentation processes, biofertilizers, biopesticides and artificial insemination, to high-tech approaches such as those involving advanced DNA-based methodologies and genetically modified organisms. 

A wide range of information resources are now available from the symposium website. These include a four-page summary report describing the objectives, highlights, outcomes and key messages from the symposium (in English, French and Spanish). They also include four FAO multilingual press releases published before, during and after the symposium. 

The video recordings of all sessions can also be watched. These include the opening plenary session where keynote addresses were delivered by the FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, and a distinguished group of speakers, as well as nine parallel sessions that were organized around three main themes (climate change; sustainable food systems and nutrition; and people, policies, institutions and communities). These also include the high-level ministerial session involving representatives from eight countries; the five side events organized by external stakeholders; the interactive session involving students from different universities around the world; and the final plenary session, with reporting on the three main themes and the student session as well as closing remarks by Louise Fresco (co-chair of the Advisory Panel) and the FAO Director-General.

Written summaries and slides of the presentations are available. The website also includes frequently asked questions (FAQs), in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish; "voices from the symposium" (video clips of experts interviewed before and during the event); and photos from the symposium. The website also contains a 50-minute FAO podcast released in March 2016, entitled "Can biotech benefit smallholder farmers worldwide?" which looks back at the symposium. Proceedings of the symposium are currently being finalized and will be available soon. 

These materials are all available from the symposium website at http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/agribiotechs-symposium/en/ (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). Contact [log in to unmask] for any further information.

2) Whole genome sequencing and food safety

On 23-25 May 2016, FAO organized a technical meeting on the impact of whole genome sequencing (WGS) on food safety management, together with the 9th meeting of the Global Microbial Identifier (GMI). Before the meeting, held at FAO headquarters in Rome, a technical background paper on "Applications of whole genome sequencing in food safety management" was published, prepared by FAO in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). Sessions of the meeting were recorded and are available for viewing. See the meeting website, at http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/wgs-on-food-safety-management/en/ (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). In addition, on 28 June 2016, FAO with WHO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) organized a side event on WGS and food safety during the 39th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The video recording of this side event is available at http://www.fao.org/webcast/home/en/item/4153/icode/. For more information, contact [log in to unmask] 

3) Second Report on the State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources

The 9th Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-AnGR) took place at FAO headquarters in Rome on 6-8 July 2016. One of the session working documents, entitled "Review of implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources", provides a 6-page overview of recent FAO activities, including the finalization, publication and distribution of "The second report on the state of the world's animal genetic resources for food and agriculture". This 562-page Report, edited by B.D. Scherf and D. Pilling and launched by FAO in January 2016, provides a comprehensive assessment of livestock biodiversity and its management. The core of information used in preparing the Report came from 129 governments that submitted country reports. It includes several sections relevant to biotechnology, such as those on the state of capacities regarding the use of reproductive and molecular biotechnologies and the state of the art regarding the use of molecular tools for exploring genetic diversity. See background information and documents from the 9th ITWG-AnGR website, at http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/genetics/angrvent.html (in English, French and Spanish), and the FAO press release for the January 2016 launch of the Report, at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/380661/icode/ (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish). Contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

4) SBSTTA meeting - Synthetic biology

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) is an open-ended intergovernmental scientific advisory body of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Its 20th meeting took place on 25-30 April 2016 in Montreal, Canada, where it adopted 15 recommendations, one of them (XX/8) dedicated to synthetic biology. See the official documents (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) and information documents (in English) prepared before the meeting, plus the recommendations (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) which emerged from the meeting, at https://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=sbstta-20. Contact [log in to unmask] for more information. 

5) UPOV meeting on biochemical and molecular techniques

On 24-27 May 2016, the 15th session of the UPOV Working Group on Biochemical and Molecular Techniques, and DNA-Profiling in Particular (BMT) took place in Moscow, Russian Federation. One of the aims of the BMT, established by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 1992, is to provide a forum for discussion on the use of biochemical and molecular techniques in the consideration of essential derivation and variety identification. Meeting documents and presentations, as well as the meeting report, are available at http://www.upov.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=39504. Contact [log in to unmask] for further information.

6) OECD Biotechnology Update 30
 
The latest issue (July 2016) of the OECD Biotechnology Update, prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Internal Co-ordination Group for Biotechnology, is now available. The 34-page newsletter provides updated information on the diverse activities at OECD related to biotechnology. The many issues covered include biosafety; biotechnology statistics; genome editing; and impact assessment of biotechnology and nanotechnology. See http://www.oecd.org/env/ehs/biotrack/oecdbiotechnologynewsletterupdates.htm or contact [log in to unmask] for more information. 

*** EVENTS *** (http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-events/en/)

21-23 November 2016, Patancheru, India. International conference on statistics & big data bioinformatics in agricultural research. Celebrating the 70th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics (ISAS), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is organizing this conference with technical sessions on themes related to recent advances in statistics, phenotyping, bioinformatics, geo-statistics, data management and big data analytics. The themes covered include statistical genetics & genomics and genomic selection & genome-wide association mapping. See http://isas70.icrisat.ac.in/ or contact [log in to unmask] for more information. 

21-25 February 2017, Hyderabad, India. InterDrought-V. As part of the series of InterDrought conferences, which began in France in 1995, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is organizing this fifth conference to present and debate key issues and strategies relevant for improving drought and other stress tolerance in crops. InterDrought-V will provide a platform for scientists to interact with each other, present their work and discuss different aspects on drought, crop physiology, genomics, biotechnology and integrated breeding for crop improvement. See http://ceg.icrisat.org:9091/ or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

22-26 May 2017, Vienna, Austria. Third FAO-IAEA international conference on area-wide management of insect pests: Integrating the sterile insect and related nuclear and other techniques. Following the two previous conferences organized by FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1998 and 2005, this third conference will address technical, managerial and socio-economic components of operational area-wide programmes. The general purpose of the conference is to present new developments, trends and challenges related to insect pest management, both in the fields of agriculture and public health. The concept of area-wide integrated pest management, in which the total population of a pest in an area is targeted, is central to the effective application of the sterile insect technique and is increasingly being considered for related genetic, biological and other pest suppression technologies. See http://www-naweb.iaea.org/nafa/ipc/ipc-announcements.html or contact [log in to unmask] for more information.

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This newsletter contains news and events items relevant to agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries. Its main focus is on the activities of FAO, other UN agencies/bodies and the 15 CGIAR research centres. Items from the newsletter may be reproduced, provided that the source (FAO-BiotechNews, http://www.fao.org/biotech/) is given. 

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