Side Event
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the relevance of GenØk´s capacity building program
Organizer
GenØk - Centre for Biosafety
Date and Time
29 September 2014 13:15 - 14:45
Biosafety capacity building is a Norwegian priority and GenØk has since 2003 cooperated with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) on a biosafety capacity building programme. The overall objective for the program is to build capacities for decision-making concerning the safer use of modern biotechnologies according to the goal to ensure a sustainable management of biological diversity and natural resources. As the use of GMOs continues to grow world-wide, so will the need for holistic, scientifically based evaluation on the various risk and benefit questions to society, on a case-by-case and country by country basis. Access to information is central for countries to be able to make informed decisions on the use of GMOs within their jurisdictions. Many countries have legislation to regulate the production and use of GMOs. Risk assessment is a crucial step in the decision-making process of any regulative framework of GMOs. Doing so requires technical capacity at a high level to provide assessments at an adequate level. GenØk has with its capacity building activities particularly contributed with training in issues related to GMOs and risk assessments to enable ODA-countries implement the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. From the beginning the focus has been on possible consequences related to health, environment (climate), food/feed, sustainable development as well as socio-economic effects. GenØk capacity building -biosafety courses and conferences -risk assessment support service and database -research collaboration -biosafety textbook Program partners -GenØk – Center for Biosafety, Tromsø, Norway -Third World Network, Malaysia -Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil -North-West University, South Africa