Research & Extension

Sharing knowledge in agricultural biotechnology: FAO Glossary relaunched

A revamped FAO "Glossary of Biotechnology for Food and Agriculture" was recently relaunched in a new web version. Updated with over 3,000 terms and acronyms used regularly in agricultural biotechnology research, the glossary provides a reference point for experts and students worldwide through an innovative online collaboration tool. Improvements made to the tool allow users to learn new terms and definitions as soon as they emerge, in all of the FAO languages. The Glossary is also available as a single file in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Kazakh, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Vietnamese.

The new web version of the glossary is a result of teamwork among several units across FAO and FAO networks: the FAO Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension (OEK), the Interdepartmental Working Group on Biotechnology, the global FAO Biotechnology Forum, FAO/IAEA Joint Division of Nuclear Techniques in Agriculture in Vienna, the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, and the FAO Information Technology Division. Particularly, OEK was in charge of the revision and editing in all languages, and providing the VocBench web-based vocabulary tool.

The various language versions of the glossary were developed and are now being expanded with scientific editors from renowned institutes around the world working in different areas of biotechnology. 

To see the new version of the glossary database click here