Background
In decision CP-10/10, the Conference of the Parties serving as a meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP) agreed to develop additional voluntary guidance materials to support case-by-case risk assessment of living modified organisms (LMOs) containing engineered gene drives in accordance with Annex III of the Cartagena Protocol. The COP-MOP decided that this material should have a special focus on engineered gene drive mosquitoes taking into account the current experience with the organism, the type of gene drive and specific issues of risk assessment, identified in annex I of decision CP-9/13, including existing reports, general considerations of LMOs containing engineered gene drives and existing national and regional risk assessment experiences. The decision also established an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) and requested the convening of the Online Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management to contribute to this process. The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice will consider the draft prepared by the AHTEG.
In response to this, the Secretariat is convening the first round of the Online Forum on Risk Assessment and Risk Management to collect views on elements to be included in the outline for the additional voluntary guidance materials. This forum will be re-convened periodically to provide additional inputs into the process.
The first session of the online forum opened at 12:00 (noon) EDT on Monday 10 April 2023
The first session of the online forum closed at 17:00 (5:00 pm) EDT on Tuesday 25 April 2023.
The online forum was moderated by Dr. Luciana Pimenta Ambrozevicius from Brazil.
