On 26 October 2010, the FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf gave a press conference in Rome to mark the launch of the second report on The state of the worlds plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. The new report describes the current status of the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) throughout the world, based on country reports, information gathering processes, regional syntheses, thematic background studies and published scientific literature. It describes the most significant changes that have taken place since the first report was published in 1998 as well as the major continuing gaps and needs. The role of biotechnologies in the conservation, characterization and utilization of PGRFA is also covered in different parts of the report, particularly in Appendix 3. See the press release at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/46803/icode/ (in Arabic, English, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish), providing links to the report and related press materials, or contact [email protected] for more information.

17/11/2010