In order to move faster, he urged scientists to consult with their counterparts in other countries to ensure the technology is utilized to ensure food security in the region.
Dr Kiome called on fellow scientists to fully utilize simple technologies at hand such as marker assisted systems and tissue culture, which do not involve genetic modification.
ASARECA is one of the associations that has taken the lead in enhancing agricultural biotechnology research and application in member countries.
The partnership was forged after realising the low capacity of individual National Agricultural Research Stations to undertake independent biotechnology research and development given the human resources and infrastructure limitations
ASARECA member countries include Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Several NARS are conducting biotechnology research in collaboration with advanced laboratories that could have regional impact if adapted and disseminated through ASARECA’s system.
Currently many of the ASARECA member countries are not quite ready to handle transgenics and do not have any biosafety policy in place.
It is true that implementation of transgenic biotechnologies cannot take place in a policy vacuum. It must be in tandem with the Biosafety policy development.
Towards this end Asareca is planning to run a Biosafety Project to support the biotechnology project to ensure that GMOs are developed, tested and released safely.
The purpose of the proposed Biosafety project is the establishment of an effective and efficient sub-regional Biosafety framework and thus contribute to ASARECA’s Biosafety and Biotechnology Programme’s vision of application of biotechnology for enhanced and sustainable productivity, competitiveness and value-added agricultural systems.
In fulfilling its purpose, the Biosafety project will result in subregional mechanisms-policies, guidelines and standards operating procedures to address Biosafety needs, improve Biosafety decision and the introduction of safe biotechnology products into confined trials or commercial use, within ASARECA member countries.
The project stresses a sub regional approach to strengthening policy and human capacities, in order to deal effectively with Biosafety issues.
In order to improve the soundness of Biosafety decisions, the programme will facilitate the training of scientists, members of National Biosafety committees, and regulators from ASARECA member countries.
Intensive training will be undertaken to address principles and practices of risk assessment, risk management, decision-making, monitoring and inspection procedures, critical thinking, accessing information and hands on practice in Biosafety Review.
All education and training events will be organised in partnership with national institutions.
This sub regional approach to education and training is expected to foster the harmonization of technical criteria and procedures.
The project will establish a process whereby National Biosafety Focal Points submit product Biosafety data to ASARECA for review and advice.
This activity is intended to leverage sub-regional expertise to provide national decision-makers with sound advice on applications for the intentional environmental release of biotechnology products.
Delivery of this activity will require the successful negotiation of memoranda of understanding with National Biosafety Focal Points.
The memoranda will outline a mutually acceptable process for the review of Biosafety data and provision of advice.
Biosafety data submitted to any one of the ASARECA member countries will be subject to review by a committee drawn from a roster of experts from within the sub-regional and advice and recommendations would be provided for the benefit of all member countries.
This novel model for supporting Biosafety decision will particularly benefit those countries that have neither the capacity nor the resources to implement ambitious Biosafety systems on their own, and will contribute to a consistent approach to the provision of expert advice.
The project activities will also entail establishment of a roster of sub regional scientific and socio-economic expertise to support Biosafety decision-making.
Strong knowledge base is fundamental to regulatory decision-making in biotechnology. This is why ASARECA will establish a program of Biosafety research to address sub-regional risk assessment and risk management knowledge gaps.
The primary aim of this activity is to facilitate the funding of research that is likely to inform and assist national authorities in making science-based decisions about the effects on biodiversity of introducing genetically modified organisms into the environment of ASARECA member countries.
Funded research will be performed at national institutes within the sub region and a spin-off benefit will be the augmentation of local scientific and technical capacity.
In order to promote a harmonized approach to Biosafety- related policies, guidelines, and procedures within ASARECA member countries, regional templates will be developed.
These templates will address the relevant issue of review, authorization, and monitoring at each stage of working with genetically modified organisms-contained work within laboratories and green houses, confined trials, unconfined releases, and commodity imports.
This activity will contribute to a harmonized approach to the implementation of Biosafety procedures within the sub region.
The lack of capacity in many of ASARECA member countries would be the driving force to regional co-operation.
Though ASARECA is seeking for regional Biosafety co-ordination Biosafety review process must occur in each country.
Experts agree that the Biosafety review process would be costly, repetitive and requires specific trained expertise, which may not be available in all countries.
It would thus not be surprising to see considerable duplication in the region and a lot of overlap in findings thus the need for regional collaboration to ensure efficiency.
Dr Muffy Koch of Innovation Biotechnology of South Africa pointed out the need for a regional biosafety support service centre and a scientific experts committee that could review applications and come up with recommendations.
According to Dr Koch, a regional Biosafety network could help facilitate regional reviews of applications, provide a platform for regional interaction on Biosafety.
They could initiate and monitor regional biosafety research and co-ordinate with other regional players.
Dr. Koch said it is very expensive for all countries to run their own trials and suggested that countries could coordinate with other regional players.
Asareca being a regional body with a coordination mandate and strong links with agricultural Ministers is well placed to assist in testing of GM crops and other agricultural products.

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Low-cost housing needed - Moi

The Millennium goal of cities without slums will remain elusive unless the pace of rural-urban migration is slowed down.
Kenya’s President Daniel Arap Moi is concerned that despite the Istanbul conference of 1996, the state of human settlement, particularly in developing countries, continues to deteriorate.
Addressing the first World Urban Forum held at the United Nations Headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi, he said, “the situation is most critical in the area of urban housing. I recall that during the millennium summit of September 2000, the issue of human settlement was at the core of our discussion.”
Kenya appreciates the pledge towards upgrading of slums in Nairobi under the cities’ alliance initiative.
“To achieve this target,” the President said, “we need to develop new strategies of funding the construction of cheap and affordable housing.” To this end, Kenya has encouraged development partners to mobilizing more resources.
President Moi said that his government is preparing a slum upgrading policy paper as well as collaborating with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in a slum upgrading initiative for Nairobi.
He underscored the need for effective and well functioning local authorities, coherent policies in their governance and management structures, particularly in the devolution of power and fiscal reforms in the face of urbanization.
According to the UN-Habitat Director, Anna Tibaijuka, “we have to focus on policies, programmes and projects that can enhance rural livelihood and security as well as strengthen local authorities outside rapidly growing cities.
It is evident the world over that national and local authorities are ill prepared to manage urban development. The poor are usually affected and end up taking illegal residence on the periphery of the cities.
UN-Habitat’s strategy for sustainable urbanisation includes enhancing rural livelihood and security –the most important cause of rapid urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa – and strengthening local authorities outside rapidly growing cities.
Tibaijuka acknowledges that with up to 70 percent of urban dwellers crowded in slums, the challenge is, where feasible, providing security of tenure to the squatters through upgrading, and where relocation must take place, doing it through community-led initiatives to avoid conflicts and ensure sustainability.
In Kenya, a joint Government of Kenya/UN-Habitat citywide slum-upgrading initiative has been commenced. It is now entering a second phase of policy reforms that will start with one pilot area in which there will soon be actual physical planning for upgrading the slum.
“The goals of the World Urban Forum are ambitious, but not beyond reach. By involving all concerned partners and employing innovative technologies, the World Urban Forum will become a major international resource for sustainable urban development,” Tibaijuka said.
President Moi said that UN-Habitat will require a predictable and sufficient flow of resources to enable it to fulfil its mandate. He therefore appealed for a significant increase in the regular budget provision for the Habitat and more non-earmarked contributions from member countries.
“Such contributions should be directed into the UN-Habitat’s foundation fund. This will give it the desired flexibility in carrying out a wider range of programmes,” he explained.
UN-Habitat is also increasing its involvement in urban water issues. It started with the innovative programme, Water for African Cities in seven demonstration cities: Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dakar (Senegal), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lusaka (Zambia) and Nairobi (Kenya).
The 21st century, which is the beginning of the urban millennium, is also being labelled the “century of water”. There is a growing collective concern for water security in this century.
UN-Habitat was recently mandated by the third World Water Forum to play a leading role in raising international awareness on water and cities.
The emerging consensus is that an increasing part of this challenge will have to be met in the coming decades in our cities and megacities, where most people will live henceforth, much water will be consumed and most of the pollution will be generated.
UN-Habitat acknowledges that sustainability in this new millennium will be largely defined in our cities, which are the centres of political power, public opinion and the engines of economic growth and technological innovation.
The first World Urban Forum is a culmination of a series of international events intended to engage people – as citizens and stakeholders – in the development of international policies and programmes for sustainable urban development and shelter.
It finds its roots in the lessons learned at the Second Committee – the Partners Committee – of Habitat II in Istanbul, the Thematic committee of the special Session of the General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Habitat Agenda (Istanbul+5) and the various sessions of the Urban Environment Forum and International Forum on Urban Poverty, both created in 1996.
The Istanbul conference, resolved to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least a hundred million slum dwellers by the year 2020.