As part of its on-line "Focus on the issues" series, FAO`s Media Relations Office has just released "Agricultural biotechnology: will it help?". This series of nine articles, aiming to provide background information for the non-specialist, describes current and potential applications of agricultural biotechnology, focusing on genetic modification, for animals, crops, fish and trees. It also presents the main arguments put forward both for and against the use of GMOs in agriculture and, finally, provides links to other information sources. See http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/focus/2003/gmo1.htm (in Arabic, English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.

The FAO Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture is devoting its next e-mail conference to the theme of "Regulating GMOs in developing and transition countries". This moderated conference covers the agro-industry, crop, fisheries, forestry and livestock sectors and runs from 28 April to 25 May 2003. It is organised by the FAO Working Group on Biotechnology and is the first conference to be held this year. The outcome of the conference will be used for the upcoming FAO publication, The State of Food and Agriculture 2003. The Background Document to the conference is available at http://www.fao.org/biotech/C9doc.htm. All messages posted during the conference will also be placed on the Forum website (http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp). You are hereby invited to join the Forum and to participate in the conference !! 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 two-line text message:subscribe BIOTECH-Lsubscribe biotech-room1Those who are already Forum members should leave out the first line of the above message, to register for the conference. For more information, contact [email protected].

On 27 March 2003, the 20th update of FAO-BiotechNews was posted. This e-mail list, launched in January 2002, provides English-language updates of news and events items relevant to applications of biotechnology in food and agriculture in developing countries. The 20 updates contained a total of 165 items, most of them providing news (mainly about important studies or about reports or documents of relevant conferences/meetings etc. available free on the web) and the remainder providing information on upcoming conferences, training courses etc. The items focus on FAO`s work and the work of its main United Nations (UN) and non-UN partners and cover the crop, forestry, animal, fishery and agro-industrial sectors. For further information, contact [email protected]. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to [email protected] leaving the subject blank and entering the one-line text message as follows: subscribe FAO-BiotechNews-L

The Secretariat of FAO`s Working Group on Biotechnology prepared an information paper on the Working Group`s activities for the 17th biennial Session of FAO`s Committee on Agriculture (COAG), held at FAO Headquarters, Rome from 31 March to 4 April 2003. At its 15th Session in 1999, COAG made five main recommendations regarding biotechnology and this report describes progress made since then on each recommendation in bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to FAOs work on biotechnology. See http://www.fao.org/unfao/bodies/coag/coag17/coag17-e.htm (document COAG/2003/INF/4 - in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.

One of the reports prepared for the 17th Session of FAO`s Committee on Agriculture, discussed on 3 April 2003, is entitled "Biosecurity in food and agriculture". The term Biosecurity covers the introduction of plant pests, animal pests and diseases, and zoonoses, the introduction and release of GMOs and their products, and the introduction and management of invasive alien species and genotypes. The document is based on the outcome of a broad consultation process on Biosecurity, which included an inter-agency meeting as well as an expert consultation in September 2002, specialised studies and bilateral interaction with interested bodies, and which culminated in an inter-governmental technical consultation in Bangkok in January 2003. See http://www.fao.org/unfao/bodies/coag/coag17/coag17-e.htm (document COAG/2003/9 - in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish). In addition, the final report of the Bangkok consultation has recently been put on the web (see ftp://ftp.fao.org/es/esn/food/tc_bangkok/tc_brm_report_en.pdf). For more information, contact [email protected].

The 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling took place in Ottawa, Canada from 28 April to 2 May 2003. The Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission is an intergovernmental body set up to establish international standards on foods. One of the items on the agenda for the 31st Session was the "Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Labelling of Foods and Food Ingredients Obtained through Certain Techniques of Genetic Modification / Genetic Engineering". The report of the meeting (report ALINORM 03/22A), plus the agenda and working documents, are available at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/reports.asp or contact [email protected] for further information.

On the occasion of the third World Water Forum (WWF-3), held on 16-23 March 2003 in Kyoto, Japan, FAO presented a new study entitled "Unlocking the water potential of agriculture". It analyses current trends and prospects in agricultural water management and its relation to food security, poverty alleviation and economic growth. Chapter 3 considers ways of improving water productivity (i.e. ratio of crop output to water input) at the individual plant level, through classical breeding and/or genetic engineering, or at the field and agro-ecological or river-basin level. See a news story on the study (http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/15254-en.html - in Arabic, English, French and Spanish), an information package on FAO at WWF-3 (http://www.fao.org/ag/AGL/aglw/aquastat/kyoto/index.stm - in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further information or to request a comprehensive CD-ROM specifically prepared by FAO for WWF-3.

The State of the Worlds Forests 2003 was released by FAO on 10 March 2003. This is the fifth 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. One of its chapters considers the state of science and technology (including biotechnology) in the forest sector, where "resources invested in forest research are alarmingly inadequate and significant imbalances exist between developed and developing countries, government and industry, and different segments of the forest sector". See the publication (http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y7581E/Y7581E00.HTM ), a news story about its release (http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/15080-en.html - in Arabic, English, French and Spanish) or contact FAO for more information.

The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) Intersessional Experts Meeting on "Maximising the role of planted forests in sustainable forest management" took place on 25-27 March 2003 in Wellington, New Zealand. This meeting, organised with the technical co-operation of FAO, the Center for International Forestry Research and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, had four central themes relating to the role of planted forests: benefits, challenges, ensuring sustainable management and facilitation. Some of the papers (e.g. numbers 2 and 10) discuss the issue of GMOs. See the conference website or contact [email protected] for more details.

The proceedings of the International Conference on Timber Plantation Development, held on 7-9 November 2000 in Manila, Philippines, have just been released on the web. The conference was organised jointly by FAO, the International Tropical Timber Organization and the Philippines` Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The conference included 5 sessions, with session 3 devoted to "technological breakthroughs in plantation forestry", including discussion on reproductive technologies. See http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac781e/AC781E00.htm or contact FAO (Rome) or FAO (Bangkok) for more information.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), whose goals are to maximise the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis, organised a "Policy dialogue on biotechnology applications and trade" on 11 March 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, in collaboration with the United Nations University`s Institute of Advanced Studies. This meeting was part of the Science and Technology Diplomacy Initiative (STDI) established by UNCTAD in collaboration with Harvard University´s Science, Technology and Innovation Program. The STDI seeks to make trade diplomats and policy makers more aware of the scientific underpinnings of trade issues and to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to negotiate and make informed decisions in international negotiations where science and technology play a role. See the opening statement to the meeting by Mr. Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, a recent UNCTAD paper (February 2003) giving more information on the STDI (http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//itetebmisc5_en.pdf) or contact [email protected] for more information.

Issue number 12 (March 2003) of OECD Biotechnology Update has just been published. Its purpose is 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 14 pages with items on news, recent and future events, recent and future publications and provides web and e-mail contacts for the different areas of activity. The previous issue was published in March 2002. See http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00039000/M00039805.pdf (177 KB) or contact [email protected] for more information.

In an editorial in the journal Science (7 March 2003), Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, presented "A challenge to the world`s scientists". He wrote that science continues to offer powerful tools for solving the many challenges facing humanity (including food security, human diseases, pollution and proliferation of weapons) and that recent advances in information technology, genetics and biotechnology offer extraordinary prospects for humankind as a whole. He noted, however, that there is a scientific divide between developing and developed countries where, for example, "ninety-five percent of the new science in the world is created in the countries comprising only one-fifth of the worlds population. And much of that science- in the realm of health, for example- neglects the problems that afflict most of the worlds people". He argued that commitment from scientists and scientific institutions throughout the world will be needed to change this imbalance and to bring the benefits of science to all. Contact [email protected] for more information.

FAO has just released "World agriculture: towards 2015/2030 - An FAO perspective". This comprehensive 444-page report is FAO`s latest assessment of the long-term outlook for the world`s food supplies, nutrition and agriculture. It assesses the prospects, worldwide, for food and agriculture, including fisheries and forestry, over the years to 2015 and 2030. It presents the global long-term prospects for trade and sustainable development and discusses the issues at stake in these areas over the next 30 years. It updates and extends the previous FAO global study "World agriculture: towards 2010" issued in 1995. One of the 13 chapters considers "selected issues in agricultural technology" and here, section 11.4 (pages 314-327) focuses on the potential, risks and likely benefits of agricultural biotechnology. See the full report (in English) or a summary report (in English, French or Spanish) at http://www.fao.org/es/ESD/gstudies.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

Louise Fresco, Assistant Director-General, FAO Agriculture Department, gave a presentation entitled "Which road do we take?: Harnessing genetic resources and making use of life sciences, a new contract for sustainable agriculture" at a Conference entitled "Towards sustainable agriculture for developing countries: Options from life sciences and biotechnology" organized by the European Commission on 30-31 January 2003 in Brussels, Belgium. She indicated that in biotechnology we are currently witnessing a "molecular divide", where "the gap is widening between developed and developing countries, between rich and poor farmers, between research priorities and needs, and above all between technology development and actual technology transfer". She concluded that "biotechnology must be redirected to address the pressing needs of the poor and the new requirements for food quality and quantity and new agricultural products, by complementing existing techniques and holistic agronomic approaches to sustain production and manage risks. Our three principles (promote an open dialogue, redirect research [to respond to key challenges], ensure fair access and benefit-sharing) should form the basis of a new, broad-ranging social contract, between North and South, between public and private research, between scientists and citizens - to bridge the molecular divide". See the full 8-page text (in English) at http://www.fao.org/biotech/docs/fresco.pdf, a news story about the presentation (in English, French or Spanish) at http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/13960-en.html or contact FAO to request a copy by e-mail.

The 4th Session of the Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology took place in Yokohama, Japan on 11-14 March 2003. The Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission is an intergovernmental body set up to establish international standards on foods. The agenda and working documents are available at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/reports.asp (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further information.