FAO organized the international symposium on “The role of agricultural biotechnologies in sustainable food systems and nutrition” on 15-17 February 2016 at FAO headquarters, Rome. Proceedings of the symposium, edited by J. Ruane, J.D. Dargie and C. Daly, are now available. Organized in eight chapters, the proceedings cover the main highlights of the symposium.

Chapter 1 contains the addresses by the FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, and three keynote speakers in the opening plenary session. Chapter 2 contains the statements delivered in the high-level ministerial session by representatives of eight member countries plus a summary of the subsequent question and answer session. Chapters 3 to 5 contain the reports and summaries of presentations from a series of parallel sessions dedicated respectively to the themes of climate change; sustainable food systems and nutrition; and people, policies, institutions and communities. Chapter 6 contains the report and statements from students of eight universities worldwide during a session dedicated to interaction with students. Chapter 7 contains the reports of five side events arranged by external stakeholders. Finally, chapter 8 contains the statements by Louise Fresco, co-chair of the Advisory Panel, and the FAO Director-General in the closing plenary session.

The proceedings can be downloaded as a single document (2.6 MB) or by single chapters at http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/66e9a36c-19b2-407a-83c9-5b767e233417/. A certain number of hard copies are also available free of charge for people in non-OECD countries - to request a copy, please contact [email protected], providing a full postal address.