Biotech Updates

WB Funds West Africa Biosafety Project

November 23, 2007

The World Bank (WB) has approved for funding the Burkina Faso West Africa Regional Biosafety Project. The US$7.5 M project aims to protect regional biodiversity against the potential risks associated with the introduction of living modified organisms (LMOs) into the environment. Countries to benefit from this project are the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Togo Cote d’Ivoire, Niger and Guinea Bissau).

The biosafety project has three components: (a) adapt and disseminate regional methodologies to assess and manage biosafety risks related to LMOs; (b) establish an institutional, legal and regulatory regional biosafety framework; and (c) implement the institutional, legal and regulatory biosafety framework in WAEMU member states who have ratified the Cartagena Protocol, with an initial focus on selected commodities.

See the WB project description at http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P096058