The background document for the FAO e-mail conference entitled "The role of agricultural biotechnologies for production of bioenergy in developing countries" is now available. The 22-page publication gives an overview of the current status regarding bioenergy, focusing on first- and second-generation liquid biofuels, including the reasons for the major current focus on liquid biofuels as well as current concerns about them. Some of the potential ways in which biotechnologies could contribute to bioenergy production are then assessed, covering production of biomass as well as conversion of the biomass to first- or second-generation liquid biofuels, in addition to production of biodiesel from microalgae and production of biogas. See http://www.fao.org/biotech/C15doc.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy. The moderated e-mail conference is open to everyone and runs from 10 November to 7 December 2008. It is hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum and organised in collaboration with the FAO Working Group on Bioenergy. To join the Forum (and also register for the conference), send an e-mail to [email protected] and enter the following text on two separate lines:subscribe BIOTECH-Lsubscribe biotech-room3Forum members wishing to register for the conference should leave out the first line of the above message. For more information, contact [email protected].

31/10/2008