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BookletTechnical studyTraining workshop on GM food safety assessment in Bhutan: Using a real case study
Technical summary report
2019Also available in:
No results found.Upon the official request of the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan, a training workshop entitled “Training workshop on GM food safety assessment: Using a real case study” was co-organized by the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 4 – 15 February 2019 in Paro, Bhutan. A total of 12 participants comprising Bhutan Biosafety Technical Working Group (TWG) members or their nominated representatives and BAFRA officials attended the workshop, which was run by an FAO Technical Panel Expert from Food Standards Australia New Zealand assisted by an FAO Food Safety Officer. The International Rice Research Institute had provided its complete regulatory dossier (already submitted formally to several regulatory agencies) on biofortified rice event GR2E (Golden Rice) as an in-kind contribution to FAO, for the express purpose of providing an example of a ‘real’ application for developing countries to work through. Using this dossier, workshop participants were able to meet the objectives of the workshop, which were to provide: 1. An understanding of the various techniques that are used to generate the data for a genetically modified (GM) food application; 2. An appreciation of how to go about assessing the safety data 3. A understanding of the administrative, legal and communication activities associated with handling a GM food application 4. Recommendations for finalizing a guideline and information document for potential applicants. Key words: GM foods; food safety; capacity building -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookStrengthening the capacity on Genetically Modified (GM) food safety assessment and communication in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia
FAO Technical summary report
2018Also available in:
No results found.Recently the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat has requested support from FAO as the main implementation partner in a programme aimed at facilitating intra-regional trade through harmonization of food safety regulations. The need has been particularly highlighted to implement a programme of trainings focusing on building an understanding of the scientific issues underlying current divergences on regulatory approaches used by COMESA Members in relation to commodities that are important to intra-regional trade. In the last decade, the development has allowed some of the COMESA countries to be engaged in a) research, 2) import or 3) production of Genetically Modified (GM) food products while the level of capacity in evaluating the relevant applications of GM foods are not uniformly conducted among different countries due to the different laws/regulations, procedures/protocols, and/or available expertise/experts. While environmental and socio-economic parameters can differ between countries, GM food safety assessment can be universally identical, following the same procedures of the relevant Codex Alimentarius Guidelines. In 2017 and 2018, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia have worked with FAO to take an approach to assess the status quo and to jointly develop capacity in terms of knowledge and resources. Each of the participating countries was found to be at a different level of proficiency for GM food safety assessment and risk communication, however several common areas for improvement have been identified across all countries visited. During the project, relevant trainings have been provided and they have successfully addressed some of these shortcomings. Further work needs have been identified by the respective participants and national roadmaps were developed for all three countries as one of the concrete outputs of this project. The project achieved a number of other outputs including significant commitment from all three countries to work together to strengthen GM food safety assessment through regional strategy, having the first GM food safety assessment result shared by Kenya to the FAO GM Foods Platform, and mutual exchange of policy documents which are in line with Codex Alimentarius. The outputs from each country were shared among all three countries and the project results have led to the development of a group/regional initiative that would take place in the future, with flexibility to welcome more countries from the region and the continent. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookFAO questionnaire results on genetically modified food safety assessment
Global stock-taking exercise of the national situations, September 2019
2020Also available in:
No results found.In 2008, the Codex Alimentarius members agreed that it is important for countries to globally share the results of genetically modified (GM) food safety assessment and subsequently the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is hosting an online database entitled FAO GM Foods Platform (http://www.fao.org/gm-platform) to share the relevant data. As of September 2019, only 23 out of 189 Codex members have been able to share the relevant data. In order to understand the challenges countries may be facing in conducting GM food safety assessment, two separate sets of questionnaires were sent to all 189 Codex members in July 2019. Questionnaire A was sent to 166 Codex members who had not shared any GM food safety assessment result on the platform, while questionnaire B was sent to those 23 Codex members who have been actively sharing the GM food safety assessment results on the Platform. A total of 116 Codex members responded between July and September 2019. All responses are recorded as they were received. While the present document is a simple compilation of the responses, a complete analysis of the results was made and integrated in to another FAO publication entitled Reality of GM food safety: Are we effectively evaluating it? Technical Background Paper for the FAO GM Foods Platform Community Meeting 2019.
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Book (stand-alone)Technical bookSoil erosion: the greatest challenge for sustainable soil management 2019
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Despite almost a century of research and extension efforts, soil erosion by water, wind and tillage continues to be the greatest threat to soil health and soil ecosystem services in many regions of the world. Our understanding of the physical processes of erosion and the controls on those processes has been firmly established. Nevertheless, some elements remain controversial. It is often these controversial questions that hamper efforts to implement sound erosion control measures in many areas of the world. This book, released in the framework of the Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (15-17 May 2019) reviews the state-of-the-art information related to all topics related to soil erosion. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookGlobal Forest Resources Assessment 2020
Main report
2020FAO completed its first assessment of the world’s forest resources in 1948. At that time, its major objective was to collect information on available timber supply to satisfy post-war reconstruction demand. Since then, the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) has evolved into a comprehensive evaluation of forest resources and their condition, management and uses, covering all the thematic elements of sustainable forest management. This, the latest of these assessments, examines the status of, and trends in, forest resources over the period 1990–2020, drawing on the efforts of hundreds of experts worldwide. The production of FRA 2020 also involved collaboration among many partner organizations, thereby reducing the reporting burden on countries, increasing synergies among reporting processes, and improving data consistency. The results of FRA 2020 are available in several formats, including this report and an online database containing the original inputs of countries and territories as well as desk studies and regional and global analyses prepared by FAO. I invite you to use these materials to support our common journey towards a more sustainable future with forests.