With the support of FAO and the joint FAO/IAEA division, the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics is developing a publicly accessible e-learning bioinformatics course on animal viral pathogens. The first module of this course, entitled "Phylogenetics of animal pathogens: Basic principles and applications" is already available on the web. It has been designed as a self-learning module for animal health laboratory staff and is organized in four chapters: basic notions on phylogenetic trees; how to build phylogenetic trees; how to interpret phylogenetic trees; and exercises. See http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/news_010313b.html or contact [email protected] for more information. 

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are being promoted as an important institutional mechanism for gaining access to additional financial resources, sharing risks, and addressing other constraints in pursuit of sustainable and inclusive agricultural development. In 2010, FAO’s Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries Division initiated a series of appraisals of PPPs implemented in certain African, Asian and Latin American countries. The main objective was to draw lessons that can be used to provide guidance to FAO member countries on how to partner effectively with the private sector to mobilize support for agribusiness development. Twelve country reports are currently available and some of the PPP case studies they contain involve use of agricultural biotechnologies. These include the production of monoclonal antibodies and development of a rapid assay to detect white leaf disease in sugarcane in Thailand; the adoption of biogas energy technology in integrated poultry slaughterhouses in Thailand; and the delivery of Rhizobium inoculant biofertilizers in Kenya. See http://www.fao.org/ag/ags/ags-division/publications/country-case-studies/en/ or contact [email protected] for more information.

Animal production is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. As part of a stream of activities carried out by FAO to identify low GHG emission pathways for the livestock sector, FAO has just published "Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in livestock production: A review of technical options for non-CO2 emissions" written by A.N. Hristov, J. Oh, C. Lee and co-authors and edited by P. Gerber, B. Henderson and H.P.S. Makkar. The 206-page publication evaluates the potential of enteric fermentation (i.e. fermentation of feed in the rumen as part of the normal digestive processes of livestock), manure and manure management and, thirdly, animal husbandry practices for mitigating methane and nitrous oxide, i.e. non-carbon dioxide (non-CO2), GHG emissions from livestock production. The section on animal husbandry also covers use of recombinant bovine somatotropin as well as artificial insemination and other reproductive technologies. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3288e/i3288e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of its Animal Production and Health Paper series, FAO recently published “Lessons from HPAI: A technical stocktaking of outputs, outcomes, best practices and lessons learned from the fight against highly pathogenic avian influenza in Asia 2005−2011”. Since 2004, FAO has been at the forefront of the global effort to fight H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which emerged in Southeast Asia in 2003. The 95-page book documents the result of an initiative by the Regional office for Asia and the Pacific of FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) to reflect on the work done so far to control HPAI in the Asia region, and to identify its impact and achievements, success stories, challenges and lessons learned. Different chapters are dedicated to the topics of coordination, surveillance, laboratory capacity, vaccination, biosecurity, socio-economics, wildlife, communication and advocacy and, finally, lessons learned. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3183e/i3183e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

Microbiological agents are one of the most significant contaminants of animal feed. The detection and enumeration of harmful bacteria, yeasts, fungi and parasites is imperative for the health of the animals and of the humans consuming animal products. As part of its Animal Production and Health Manual series, FAO has just published “Quality assurance for microbiology in feed analysis laboratories” which complements a previous FAO publication on “Quality assurance for animal feed laboratories” and describes additional procedures for detection and isolation of microbiological agents which may be found in animal feeds. Written by R.A. Cowie and edited by H.P.S. Makkar, the 196-page book is organized in three sections: the Quality Management System in a microbiology laboratory; quality assurance and general laboratory procedures; and microbiology procedures. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3287e/i3287e.pdf (800 KB) or contact [email protected] to request a copy, providing your full postal address.

Under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, a Compliance Committee was established to promote compliance, to address cases of non-compliance, and to provide advice or assistance. The report is now available of the 10th meeting of the Compliance Committee which took place on 29-31 May 2013 in Montreal, Canada. See the 9-page report, together with the other meeting documents, at http://www.cbd.int/doc/default.shtml?mtg=BSCC-10 or contact [email protected] for further information.

The latest issue (June 2013) 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 35-page newsletter provides updated information on OECD activities related to biotechnology. See http://www.oecd.org/env/ehs/biotrack/Biotech_Update_No25_6June2013.pdf (1.4 MB) or contact [email protected] for more information.

On 4-24 March 2013, the FAO Biotechnology Forum is hosting its next e-mail conference, entitled "Impacts of genomics and other 'omics' for the crop, forestry, livestock, fishery and agro-industry sectors in developing countries". The conference is open to everyone, is free and will be moderated. To subscribe to the conference, send an e-mail to [email protected] with the following one line in the body of the message (leave the subject line blank):
subscribe biotech-room3-L firstname lastname

Where 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 biotech-room3-L John Smith

A 10-page background document was prepared and is available on the Forum website, at http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/en/. For more information, contact [email protected]

The FAO e-mail conference on "GMOs in the pipeline: Looking to the next five years in the crop, forestry, livestock, aquaculture and agro-industry sectors in developing countries" took place from 5 November to 2 December 2012. The 11-page summary document is now available, entitled “An FAO e-mail conference on GMOs in the pipeline in developing countries: The moderator’s summary”, by J. Ruane. The document provides a summary of the main issues discussed by participants during this 4-week conference based on the 109 messages that were posted. From the e-mail conference, a picture emerged of a GMO pipeline that contains a considerable quantity and variety of products, indicating that the new GMOs likely to be released in developing countries within the next five years will continue to be dominated by the crop sector, where a broad range of new crop by trait combinations are in the pipeline, but may also see increased focus on new areas such as GM fish, insects and trees. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/ap998e/ap998e.pdf (90 KB) or contact [email protected] to request a copy. All e-mail messages posted in the conference are available at http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/biotech/docs/conf18msgs.pdf (0.9 MB).

On 22-25 September 2010, the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 took place in Phuket, Thailand, jointly organized by FAO, the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) and the Royal Thai Department of Fisheries. It brought together a wide-ranging group of experts and important stakeholders to review aquaculture progress and the further potential of this sector, as a basis for improving the positioning of the sector and its mandate within the global community. The conference proceedings are now available on the web, entitled "Farming the waters for people and food”, edited by R.P. Subasinghe et al. Most of the 896-page proceedings is dedicated to a series of 19 expert panel reviews, three of which consider in some detail the use of biotechnologies in aquaculture, namely expert panel review 1.2 on "Novel and emerging technologies: Can they contribute to improving aquaculture sustainability?" (by C.L. Browdy et al); 3.1 on "Promoting responsible use and conservation of aquatic biodiversity for sustainable aquaculture development" (J.A.H. Benzie et al); and 3.3 on "Improving biosecurity: A necessity for aquaculture sustainability" (M. Hine et al). See http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2734e/i2734e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

In 2008, FAO approved a two-year Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project in the Near East and North Africa region entitled "Strengthening capacities towards the establishment of a regional platform for the detection of genetically modified organisms", with Jordan, Lebanon, the Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen as the six participating countries. As part of this TCP project, an advanced training course on "Detection of genetically modified organisms and biosafety for food and agriculture” took place in Aleppo, Syria on 19-24 June 2010, jointly organized by FAO, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the General Commission for Scientific and Agricultural Research (GCSAR). In the context of this training course, a laboratory manual on GMO detection was prepared, edited by A.M. Abdul Kader et al, which is now available on the web. The first half of the 322-page publication is in English while the second half is in Arabic. See the manual (10.5 MB) or contact [email protected] for more information.

On 9-12 April 2012, the First Asia Dairy Goat Conference took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, organized by FAO, the Universiti Putra Malaysia and the International Dairy Federation, providing a platform to share technical information and experiences and to network for the promotion of dairy goat farming. The 229-page proceedings of the conference are now available, edited by R. Abdullah et al, containing the keynote and plenary addresses as well as research papers covering various disciplines including nutrition, breeding and genetics, milk and milk products and socio-economics of goat production. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i2891e/i2891e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

The final reports of the 6th meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 6), held on 1-5 October 2012 in Hyderabad, India, and of the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-11), held in the same place on 8-19 October 2012, are now available in all six UN languages, i.e. in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. See http://bch.cbd.int/mop6/documents/ and http://www.cbd.int/cop11/doc/ respectively or contact [email protected] for more information.

Issue number 24 (December 2012) 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 32-page newsletter provides updated information on OECD activities related to biotechnology. See http://www.oecd.org//env/chemicalsafetyandbiosafety/biosafety-biotrack/oecdbiotechnologynewsletterupdates.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has recently published two manuals, based on the training notes for courses of banana tissue culture nursery operators and farmers in East Africa, facilitated by IITA and Volunteer Efforts for Development Concern (VEDCO). The manuals, both by M. Lule et al, are organized into a small number of modules, each divided into sessions (based on actual training sessions carried out in Central Uganda). The first, entitled “Trainer’s manual: A training course on setting up and running a banana tissue culture nursery”, is for people involved with training of nursery operators, such as extension agents or applied scientists. This 88-page book contains four modules, i.e. introduction to tissue culture bananas; business planning and business skills for nursery operators; practical management of a banana tissue culture nursery; and marketing for nursery operators. The second, entitled “Trainer’s manual: A training course for banana farmers interested in growing tissue culture bananas”, is for people involved with training of smallholder tissue culture farmers, such as extension agents or applied scientists. This 126-page book contains five modules, i.e. introduction to tissue culture bananas; working in groups; how to grow tissue culture bananas; business skills for farmers; and marketing for farmers. See http://www.iita.org/web/iita/publications or contact [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.

From 5 November to 2 December 2012 the FAO Biotechnology Forum is hosting its next e-mail conference, which has the provisional title "GMOs in the pipeline: Looking to the next five years in the crop, forestry, livestock, aquaculture and agro-industry sectors in developing countries". Its goal is to inform the debate about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the pipeline, considering the specific kind of GMOs that are likely to be commercialised in developing countries over the next five years and to discuss their potential implications. The conference is open to everyone, is free and will be moderated. To subscribe to the conference, send an e-mail to [email protected] with the following one line in the body of the message (leave the subject line blank):
subscribe biotech-room2-L firstname lastname

Where 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 biotech-room2-L John Smith

A background document is being prepared and will be sent to Forum members before the conference begins and placed on the Forum website, at http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/en/. For more information, contact [email protected].