Dear Subscribers, Here is Update 2-2016 of FAO-BiotechNews. As usual, we welcome any feedback. With best wishes John John Ruane The Coordinator of FAO-BiotechNews, 9-9-2016 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) Proceedings of the 2016 FAO international symposium on agricultural biotechnologies FAO organized the international symposium on "The role of agricultural biotechnologies in sustainable food systems and nutrition" on 15-17 February 2016 at FAO headquarters, Rome. Proceedings of the symposium, edited by J. Ruane, J.D. Dargie and C. Daly, are now available. Organized in eight chapters, the proceedings cover the main highlights of the symposium. Chapter 1 contains the addresses by the FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, and three keynote speakers in the opening plenary session. Chapter 2 contains the statements delivered in the high-level ministerial session by representatives of eight member countries plus a summary of the subsequent question and answer session. Chapters 3 to 5 contain the reports and summaries of presentations from a series of parallel sessions dedicated respectively to the themes of climate change; sustainable food systems and nutrition; and people, policies, institutions and communities. Chapter 6 contains the report and statements from students of eight universities worldwide during a session dedicated to interaction with students. Chapter 7 contains the reports of five side events arranged by external stakeholders. Finally, chapter 8 contains the statements by Louise Fresco, co-chair of the Advisory Panel, and the FAO Director-General in the closing plenary session. The proceedings can be downloaded as a single document (2.6 MB) or by single chapters at http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/66e9a36c-19b2-407a-83c9-5b767e233417/. A certain number of hard copies are also available free of charge for institutions in non-OECD countries. To request a copy of the proceedings for your institution, please contact [log in to unmask], providing a full postal address. 2) FAO/CBD/OECD webinar on international databases on biosafety Following two similar events in November 2014 and May 2015, a third webinar was jointly organized by FAO, the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on 9 December 2015. It provided a training opportunity in understanding the location, contents, specific meanings and possible use of the data available on international databases on biosafety. The report of the third webinar, as well as the presentations and video recordings, are now available at http://tiny.cc/Biosafety-Events. For further information, contact [log in to unmask] 3) Probiotics in animal nutrition As part of its Animal Production and Health Papers series, FAO has just published "Probiotics in animal nutrition - Production, impact and regulation", by Y.S. Bajagai, A.V. Klieve, P.J. Dart and W.L. Bryden, edited by H.P.S. Makkar. The 89-page report presents a unique and exhaustive review of the state of knowledge regarding the use of probiotics in various animal production systems and their impact on animal productivity. It focuses specifically on definitions, production, mechanisms of action, applications in diverse animal production systems, effects, safety and potential public health risks of probiotics. It also covers labelling of probiotic products and the global regulatory status of probiotics in animal feed. See http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5933e.pdf (770 KB) or contact [log in to unmask] for more information. 4) Cartagena COP-MOP 8 and CBD COP 13 The 8th meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 8) takes place on 4-17 December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico. The annotated provisional agenda and other documents are now available at https://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=MOP-08. The meeting will be held concurrently with the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 13). One of the items on the provisional agenda for COP 13 includes synthetic biology (item 17 on "Other scientific and technical issues, including synthetic biology, implications of the IPBES assessment on pollinators, and sustainable wildlife management"). See the COP 13 documents at https://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=cop-13. Contact [log in to unmask] for more information. ****************** 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. 1. To subscribe to FAO-BiotechNews, send an e-mail message to [log in to unmask] with only the following one line in the body of the message (i.e. leave the subject line blank and have no other text, such as an e-mail signature, in the message): subscribe FAO-BiotechNews-L firstname lastname Firstname and lastname refer to the person's first and last name. For example, if the subscriber's name is John Smith, then the line should be: subscribe FAO-BiotechNews-L John Smith 2. 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