The FAO International Technical Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10) took place in Guadalajara, Mexico from 1 to 4 March 2010. A major objective of the Conference was to take stock of the application of biotechnologies across the different food and agricultural sectors in developing countries, in order to learn from the past and to identify options for the future to face the challenges of food insecurity, climate change and natural resource degradation.
The Conference brought together about 300 policy-makers, scientists and representatives of intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations from 68 countries, including governmental delegations nominated by 42 FAO Member States.
A key feature of ABDC-10 was the involvement of a broad range of different stakeholders, including several intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and regional fora, which organized/supported parallel sessions that were sector-specific, regional or of cross-sectoral interest. These included the CGIAR, ICGEB, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Oxfam International, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA), the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Technical Cooperation Network on Plant Biotechnology in Latin America and the Caribbean (REDBIO). For each session, a Summary Report was prepared and all of these, as well as presentations made, are available on the webpage dedicated to these 27 Parallel Sessions.
During the Conference, 22 different organizations, including international and national research institutions, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, also participated in the 'Knowledge Share Fair' to promote good knowledge sharing practices in the field of agricultural biotechnologies.
Reference: Read the conference report
