Isaaa org by Rhonda Varsane

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA)

Abbreviation ISAAA Formation 1992 Type Not for profit organization Technology transfer, Knowledge Purpose/focus Sharing, Capacity Building, Impact Assessment of GM Crops Location USA, Kenya, Philippines Region served Worldwide Main organ Board of Directors Website http://www.isaaa.org/ The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) is a nonprofit international organization that shares the benefits of agricultural biotechnology, with a special focus on resource-poor farmers in developing countries. ISAAA facilitates the transfer and delivery of proprietary biotechnology products by involving partner organisations from public and private sectors in the research and development continuum. Aside from technology transfer, ISAAA is also involved in science-based knowledge sharing and capacity building, and produces annual report on the use of biotech crops.

Contents

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1 International presence 2 Donor organisations 3 Annual Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops 4 GM Approval Database 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

International presence ISAAA operates three regional centers. ISAAA SEAsiaCenter is hosted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. This center also serves as the Global Coordination Office as well as the home of Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology (KC).[1] KC shares authoritative knowledge on every aspect of crop biotech to build capacity in national programmes to facilitate informed decision making about GM crops and their contribution to food security and environmental safety.[2] KC releases a weekly e-newsletter, the Crop Biotech Update (CBU), which features latest news about agricultural biotechnology. ISAAA AfriCenter is hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) located in Nairobi, Kenya and implements programs involving tissue culture of bananas and rapid propagation of multipurpose trees.[3] ISAAA AmeriCenter is located in Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. It serves as the administrative and financial headquarters of the organization.

Donor organisations The ISAAA receives funding from both public and private donors. Some of the ISAAA's funding agencies include the USDA, US Grains Council, Monsanto, Bayer, two banks - Fondazione Bussolera, in Italy and Ibercaja, in Spain, USAID and the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II.

Annual Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops The organization releases an annual publication on the global status of commercially approved biotech crops. The publication is authored by Clive James, the founder and chair of ISAAA. The annual brief provides research on global trends in the adoption of major biotech crops since they were first planted commercially. The 2012 report says that "17.3 million farmers planted 170 million hectares of biotech crops in 29 countries, a sustained increase of 6% or 10.3 million hectares over 2011."[4]

GM Approval Database ISAAA documents approved GM crops worldwide and presents them in an easy-to-use database available in the organization's website. Each biotech event is featured with a brief description about the crop, trait, transformation method, developer, and summary of regulatory approval. Entries in the database were sourced from Biotechnology Clearing Houses/Regulatory Institutions of approving countries.

References ^ http://www.1site-europe.net/onesite_inasp/people/orgdetail.asp?orgid=14690 ^ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsfa.893/pdf Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 3. ^ http://www.ofabafrica.org/meeting_speaker_profiles/Profile-Karembu.pdf 4. ^ http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/crops-biotech-reportidUKL1N0BK09020130220 1. 2.