The course was officially opened by the Minister of Environment Gheorghe Șalaru and local organizer Angela Lozan. GenØk was represented by director Anne I. Myhr and TWN by Lim Li Ching.

In partnership with the Ministry of Environment in Moldova and Third World Network, GenØk is organizing a course in biosafety and risk assessment in Chisinau, Moldova 3-8 February. In addition to increase the participants general knowledge of biosafety, the course aims to run a test of the “Roadmap for Risk Assessment” developed by the Cartagena Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

GenØk has more than 10 years experience in organizing biosafety courses in different regions in the world. The participants in this course come from countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkey and Ukraine.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety seeks to ensure ”an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, and specifically focusing on transboundary movements”. In order to manage the introduction and development of GMOs as well as trade thereof, countries are required to develop biosafety regulations which

Local organizer Dr. Angela Lozan

include a risk assessment. Performing credible impact assessments requires multi-disciplinary scientific and social scientific competence as there is a need to assess LMOs in the context of each country’s unique cultural, ethical, socio-economic and policy frameworks.

The regional course is a part of a capacity building project financed by Norad.