The State of the World`s Forests 2005 was released by FAO this week and has the theme "realizing the economic benefits from forests". This is the sixth edition of the publication which reports every two years on the status of forests, recent major policy and institutional developments and key issues concerning the forest sector. The chapter on "Management, conservation and sustainable development of forests" covers, among other things, developments in biotechnology in forestry. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5574e/y5574e00.htm (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.

The latest edition (nr. 35) of the Animal Genetic Resources Information (AGRI) bulletin has now been published, including a paper on "Use of DNA markers to assist with product traceability and pedigree analysis and their role in breed conservation" by G.L.H. Alderson and G.S. Plastow. AGRI includes articles (in English, French or Spanish) on all aspects of the characterisation, conservation and utilisation of animal genetic resources of interest to food and agriculture production and is edited in the Animal Genetic Resources group of FAO`s Animal Production and Health Division. See http://dad.fao.org/en/refer/library/agri/agri35.pdf or contact [email protected] for more information.

The joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture has been executing a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on "Assessment of the effectiveness of vaccination strategies against Newcastle disease and Gumboro Disease using immunoassay-based technologies for increasing farmyard poultry production in Africa". The final meeting of the project was held on 24-28 May 2004 in Vienna, Austria and from this, conclusions, recommendations, ranking of interventions to improve village poultry production and recommended future activities to increase farmyard poultry production in Africa are now available. The proceedings of the CRP will be published soon. See http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d3/mtc/04_rcm.html or contact [email protected] for more information.

The second meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP/2) takes place from 30 May to 3 June 2005 in Montreal, Canada. Two information documents and 10 official documents (most available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish), covering areas such as public awareness/participation, capacity-building activities and notification requirements, are currently available. See http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?mtg=MOP-02 or contact [email protected] for further information.

The second meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (i.e. the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters) takes place on 25-27 May 2005 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. One of the substantive issues on item 5 of the provisional agenda is genetically modified organisms, where "The Meeting of the Parties will be invited to adopt a decision aimed at further developing the application of the Convention with respect to GMOs". The UNECE is one of five regional commissions of the UN and has 55 Member countries from North America, Western, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. See http://www.unece.org/env/pp/mop2.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

Issue number 14 (February 2005) of OECD Biotechnology Update has just been published. It aims to provide up-to-date information on the diverse activities at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) related to biotechnology. It contains 21 pages with items on news, recent and future events, recent and future publications (many are available free of charge) and provides web and e-mail contacts for the different areas of activity. See http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/45/34512603.pdf (202 KB) or contact [email protected] for more information.

The main focus of the OECDs Working Group on Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology is environmental risk/ safety assessment of transgenic crops. The publication of consensus documents, which typically compile information on the biology of specific crop plant species which is for use in environmental risk/ safety assessment, is a major output of its work. A recent publication entitled "An introduction to the Biosafety Consensus Documents of OECDs Working Group for Harmonisation in Biotechnology", describes the purpose of these documents as well as the process by which they are drafted, reviewed and brought to publication. See http://appli1.oecd.org/olis/2005doc.nsf/linkto/env-jm-mono(2005)5 or contact [email protected] for more information. The OECDs Task Force for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds also publishes consensus documents, complementing those of the Working Group as they deal with issues related to human foods and animal feeds, rather than environmental safety issues.

On 5-8 August 2002, the 8th Asian Regional Maize Workshop was held in Bangkok, Thailand, co-sponsored by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Department of Agriculture of Thailand, and Kasetsart University, Thailand. Proceedings of the workshop, whose theme was New technologies and technology delivery systems for the new millennium are now available, edited by G. Srinivasan, P.H. Zaidi, B.M. Prasanna, F. Gonzalez, and K. Lesnick. Papers in the proceedings deal with molecular tools for maize improvement, genetics and breeding, crop management, biotic and abiotic stresses affecting maize, technology adoption and dissemination, and country reports. See http://www.cimmyt.org/english/docs/proceedings/armw/contents.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of a new initiative, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) approved for implementation in 2003 three pilot Challenge Programmes (defined as a "time-bound, independently-governed program of high impact research, that targets the CGIAR goals in relation to complex issues of overwhelming global and/or regional significance, and requires partnerships between a wide range of institutions in order to deliver its products") called 1) Water and Food 2) HarvestPlus and 3) Generation. The Generation Challenge Programme (GCP), whose aim is to "harness the rich global heritage of plant genetic resources and create a new generation of crops that meet the needs of resource-poor people", has 5 sub-programmes: Genetic diversity of global genetic resources; comparative genomics for gene discovery; trait capture for crop improvement; genetic resources, genomic, and crop information systems and, finally, capacity building. The GCP publishes an e-mail newsletter providing updates from the programme, including capacity building opportunities (e.g. a diversity/breeding course for national agricultural research systems (NARS) scientists in Pretoria, South Africa, 22 May to 3 June 2005). See the latest newsletter at http://www.generationcp.org/enewsletter.php?i=174 or contact [email protected] to be added to the mailing list.

The 26th Session of FAO`s Committee on Fisheries takes place on 7-11 March 2005 in Rome, Italy. One of the working documents prepared for this biennial meeting is "Progress in the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and related international plans of action". The document summarises activities undertaken by FAO to facilitate the implementation of the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, the four international plans of action and the Strategy that have been concluded within its framework and it also reports on progress made by FAO Members, regional fishery bodies and non-governmental organisations in implementing and promoting the implementation of the Code. The Code is a voluntary set of principles and standards applicable to the conservation, management and development of fisheries, which also refers specifically to genetically modified fish (Article 9.3.1). See document COFI/2005/2 (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish) at http://www.fao.org/tempref/FI/DOCUMENT/COFI/COFI_26/default.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

The FAO e-mail conference entitled "Public participation in decision-making regarding GMOs in developing countries: How to effectively involve rural people" began on 17 January and finished on 13 February 2005. Over 500 people subscribed to this moderated conference and 116 messages were posted, from 70 people living in 35 different countries. Half of the messages posted were from people in developing countries. The wide range of issues raised included e.g. the need for relevant and reliable information; whether and why the public (rural or not) should be involved in decision-making regarding GMOs and, assuming they should, how they could be effectively involved (including topics such as appropriate media and communication strategies, local languages, who should pay, indigenous peoples, international agreements/guidelines etc.). The messages are available at http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/c12logs.htm or can be requested as a single e-mail (size 200 KB) from [email protected].

Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA), an initiative to provide free or low-cost access to major scientific journals in agriculture and related biological, environmental and social sciences to public institutions in developing countries, was launched in October 2003. Currently, 69 countries (generally with an annual gross national income per capita of US$1,000 or less) are eligible to participate and access to 708 journals is provided. To date, 405 institutions in 55 countries have registered while 14 new publishers have recently joined the initiative. FAO and its partners are seeking to increase participation from users and publishers even further, and are reaching out to those countries that, as yet, have no subscribers. The journals cover subjects such as animal science, fisheries/aquatic science, forestry and plant science/soil science and include 23 journals in the biotechnology/applied microbiology category. See http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/index.php (in Arabic, English, French or Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further details.

At the 1st meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 1), a decision was made to establish an Open-ended Technical Expert Group on Identification Requirements of Living Modified Organisms intended for direct use as Food or Feed, or for Processing (LMOs-FFP). The 1st meeting of the expert group takes place on 16-18 March 2005 in Montreal, Canada. Documents for the meeting (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) are available at http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.asp?mtg=BSTEGIR-01 or contact [email protected] for more information.

Reports are now available from three meetings held recently regarding capacity-building for the effective implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. They are from the 1st Coordination Meeting of Institutions offering Biosafety-Related Training and Education Programs, held on 4-6 October 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland; the 1st Coordination Meeting for Governments and Organizations Implementing or Funding Biosafety Capacity-Building Activities, held on 26-27 January 2005 in Montreal, Canada; and the meeting of the Liaison Group on Capacity-Building for Biosafety, held on 27-28 January 2005 in Montreal, Canada. See http://www.biodiv.org/biosafety/news.aspx or contact [email protected] for more information.

Resuming its 2004 substantive session on 5 November 2004, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted resolution 2004/68 on "Promoting the application of science and technology to meet the development goals contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration". ECOSOC coordinates the work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and five regional commissions; receives reports from 11 UN funds and programmes; and issues policy recommendations to the UN system and to Member States. See the resolution (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) by searching on "e/2004/inf/2/add.3" at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/index.html or contact [email protected] for more information.

As part of the NEPAD-IFPRI African Policy Dialogues on Biotechnology, launched by the Science and Technology Forum of the New Partnership for Africa`s Development (NEPAD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), two multiple stakeholder sessions have been held so far, on 25-26 April 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa and on 20-21 September 2004 in Harare, Zimbabwe. The report and "Statement of Commitments" from the 2nd session are now available on the web. See http://www.ifpri.org/africadialogue/papers.asp or contact [email protected] to request a copy of either document. A 3rd session is planned for 2005.