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• First Vietnam ETT workshop
• Second Vietnam ETT workshop

Second Vietnam ETT workshop, 22-26 May 2007

The second ETT workshop of the GMO ERA Project in Vietnam, "Development of an Expert Teaching Team for Risk Assessment and Management of Nontarget and Biodiversity Impacts of GM Crops," was held in Nha Trang, Vietnam, from 22-26 May 2007.

Workshop participants gained an in-depth knowledge of the project method for conducting environmental risk assessments (ERA) for biodiversity and non-target impacts, first through lecture and then by practicing the methods in group exercises, using the case study crops Bt maize and Bt rice. During the last two days of the workshop, participants used this method to design viable experiments for assessing nontarget environmental risk of GM crops in Vietnam. The completed experimental protocols can be used to apply for research funding within Vietnam and internationally.

The Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Dr. Bui Ba Bong, opened the workshop with welcoming words, considering the workshop to be a very meaningful activity that will help Vietnam implement the 2005 government directive on biosafety of GMOs, and MARD to develop national capacity for sound environmental risk assessment and management of GM crops.

The workshop was attended by 35 Vietnamese participants representing seven research institutes under MARD; VEPA under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE); the Food Research Institute under the Ministry of Health; the Cotton Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry; the Institute of Biotechnology under the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology; and three Vietnamese universities. Many participants came from the Plant Protection Sub-Departments and provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development. The recently founded Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City and the Syngenta company were also represented.

Participants were divided into five groups for the group exercises, with each focusing on particular functional groups associated with possible adverse effects:

• • herbivore pests
  • pollinators and flower visitors
  • soil processes
  • predators
  • parasitoids

The group exercises included:

• • selection of highest priority nontarget species
  • exposure characterization
  • adverse effects pathways
  • formulation of risk hypotheses
  • testing of risk hypotheses
  • experimental design

The workshop groups were led by five Vietnamese group leaders: Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Cuc, Dr. Nguyen Van Huynh, Dr. Pham Van Lam, Dr. Pham Van Toan, and Dr. Trac Khuong Lai. The GMO ERA Project contributed project members and experts Dr. Eliana Fontes from Embrapa in Brazil, Dr. Yolanda Chen from the International Rice Research Institute, and Dr. Lewis Wilson from CSIRO, Australia, who all led group exercises and contributed significantly to the workshop.

The workshop was coordinated by Dr. Nguyen Hong Son and Dr. Nguyen Van Tuat of MARD, and the organizing committee (Mrs. Pham Hong Hanh and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Viet). A particular achievement of the team was to organize the translation of all workshop materials into Vietnamese.

The workshop was organized and supported by the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Vietnam Environment Protection Agency UNEP GEF Project on a National Biosafety Framework, with funding from the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and the UNEP GEF Project.

Thanks to all the contributors!

Constructing risk hypotheses in the parasitoids group

Soils group at the second Vietnam ETT workshop

Parasitoid group leaders

Dr. Bong speaking during the opening ceremony

Herbivore group working on selection matrices

Vietnam steering committee dinner