NHD hosts Biosafety Clearing House Seminar
Sean Towsend, Senior Research Officer of the Jamaica Clearing House Mechanism (Ja-CHM) and the Natural History Division makes a presentation at the sensitization seminar on September 5, 2008.
The Institute of Jamaica’s Natural History Division hosted a sensitization seminar on Biosafety Clearing House (BCH) on Friday, September 5, 2008 at the Institute of Jamaica Lecture Hall.
The seminar was aimed at informing and educating persons about biosafety. Biosafety refers to efforts to reduce and eliminate the potential risks resulting from
biotechnology and its products.
The seminar forms part of the implementation of the project, “Building Capacity for Effective Participation in the Biosafety Clearing House (BCH)” being administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
This is the first seminar of its kind in Jamaica on the Biosafety Clearing House. Amongst the issues discussed at the seminar were biotechnology and biosafety in Jamaica.
A participant asks a question during a discussion forum at the Biosafety Clearing House sensitization seminar.
Participants also got information on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety with emphasis on the Biosafety Clearing House. Representatives were present from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Coconut Industry Board, National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Institute of Jamaica.
On Tuesday, September 23, 2008, the second seminar will be at the Mandeville Hotel while the final seminar will be at the Iberostar Hotel and Resort in Montego Bay on Thursday, September 25, 2008.