The background document for the FAO e-mail conference entitled "Coping with water scarcity in developing countries: What role for agricultural biotechnologies?" is now available. The 16-page document gives an overview of the current status and future perspectives regarding water availability and use on Earth as well as a discussion of some major strategies that can be employed to deal with water scarcity. It then looks at the issue of water use in agriculture in more detail as well as some of the potential ways in which biotechnology could contribute to this area (e.g. increasing the efficiency of water use in agriculture; application of mycorrhizal fungi; or improving wastewater treatment). See http://www.fao.org/biotech/C14doc.htm or contact [email protected] to request a copy. The moderated e-mail conference runs from 5 March to 1 April 2007 and is organised by the FAO Biotechnology Forum, in collaboration with colleagues in FAO`s water programme, to coincide with the World Water Day which is celebrated each year on 22 March. To join the Forum (and also register for the conference), send an e-mail to [email protected] leaving the subject blank and entering only the following text on two separate lines:subscribe BIOTECH-Lsubscribe biotech-room2Forum members wishing to register for the conference should leave out the first line of the above message. For more information, contact [email protected].

13/02/2007