Growing concerns about the impact of pesticide use on biodiversity and human health – and increasing demand for products from biodiversity-friendly production systems – have led to growing interest in alternative methods of pest control, including particularly the use of microbial and invertebrate BCAs.
The Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Commission), at its 19th Regular Session, considered conservation and sustainable use of microbial and invertebrate biological control agents and microbial biostimulants. It recommended that an open-ended workshop be held with the aim of:
- raising awareness of the potential of biological control agents (BCAs) and biostimulants;
- reviewing the global regulatory situation regarding the import and export of BCAs and biostimulants, and ABS arrangements for relevant genetic resources;
- identifying possible regulatory gaps and unnecessary restrictions affecting the use of BCAs and biostimulants; and
- addressing environmental risk assessment for BCAs.
The open-ended workshop will be held in collaboration with the Convention on Biological Diversity, CABI and the International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control from 23-24 September in Rome, Italy at FAO Headquarters. The workshop will be held back-to-back with the first session of the Commission’s Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Microorganism and Invertebrate Genetic Resources (25-27 September 2024). The workshop is supported by the European Union through the ACP MEAs 3 programme, Building capacity related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Simultaneous interpretation in all UN languages will be available.