Side Event

Testing the roadmap for risk assessment – lessons learned

Organizer
GenØk - Centre for Biosafety

Date and Time
1 October 2014 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Lessons learned from “The Eastern European Regional Course on Integrative Impact Assessment of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) under the Cartagena Protocol “Advancing LMOs assessment: Principles, Practice and Progress”, a course organized 3-8 February 2014, in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. One of the objectives of the course was to build practical skills and expertise in risk assessment of participants and to ensure better understanding of biosafety goals, procedures and techniques. The course participants also carried out testing of the “Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms” in actual cases of risk assessment as per the request of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (COP-MOP) in decision BS-VI/12. The testing exercise was facilitated/conducted by representatives of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Another objective was to promote regional collaboration and cooperation in the actual topics under the Cartagena Protocol through conducting regional sessions as well as to build networks between participants to discuss issues of biosafety concern. The course was designed for policy makers, regulators, scientists/laboratory practitioners, academia and NGOs/civil society leaders, from ten countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and NIS regions. In addition, participants from three African countries who have been active in the Cartagena Protocol processes were invited to join the course.