African Biosafety Network Of Expertise
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The African Biosafety Network of Expertise describes a
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network hosted by
Ouagadougou Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...
,
Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...
.


Origin

The African Biosafety Network of Expertise was launched on 23 February 2010 with the signing of a host agreement between the
New Partnership for Africa's Development The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is an economic development program of the African Union (AU). NEPAD was adopted by the AU at the 37th session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia. ...
(NEPAD) and the Government of Burkina Faso. It was conceptualized in ''Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action'' (2005) and fulfils the recommendation of the High-Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology, entitled ''Freedom to Innovate''. The network is funded by the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...
.


Mission and activities

The network serves as a resource for regulators dealing with safety issues related to the introduction and development of genetically modified organisms. In addition to providing regulators with access to policy briefs and other relevant information online in English and French, the network organizes national and subregional workshops on specific topics. For instance, one-week
biosafety Biosafety is the prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health. These prevention mechanisms include the conduction of regular reviews of biosafety in laboratory settings, as well as strict guidel ...
courses for African regulators were run by the network in Burkina Faso in November 2013 and in Uganda in July 2014, in partnership with the University of Michigan (USA). Twenty-two regulators from
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
,
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
,
Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...
,
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
,
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
, and
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
took part in the latter course. In April 2014, the network ran a training workshop in
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
at the request of the Federal Ministry of Environment for 44 participants drawn from government ministries, regulatory agencies, universities, and research institutions. The aim was to strengthen the regulatory capacity of institutional biosafety committees. This training was considered important to ensure continued regulatory compliance for ongoing confined field trials and multilocation trials for Maruca-resistant cowpea and biofortified sorghum. The workshop was run in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute's Program for Biosafety Systems. From 28 April to 2 May 2014, Togo's Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources organized a stakeholders’ consultative workshop to validate Togo's revised biosafety law. Around 60 participants took part, including government officials, researchers, lawyers, biosafety regulators and civil society representatives; the workshop was chaired by a member of the National Biosafety Committee. The aim of the draft bill was to align Togo's biosafety law signed in January 2009 with international biosafety regulations and best practices, especially the Nagoya Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress that Togo had signed in September 2011. The validation workshop was a critical step before the new bill could be tabled at the National Assembly for adoption later that year. In June 2014, the network organized a four-day study tour to South Africa for ten regulators and policy-makers from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia,
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The main objective was to allow them to interact directly with their peers and industrial practitioners in South Africa. The study tour was organized under the auspices of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, in partnership with the Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio).


References


Sources

{{Free-content attribution , title = UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 , author = UNESCO , publisher = UNESCO Publishing , page numbers = 475 , source = , documentURL = http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf , license statement URL = , license = CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0


External links


African Biodiversity Network of Expertise
2010 establishments in Burkina Faso Biodiversity Organisations based in Burkina Faso Ouagadougou