XVIth ISAH Congress, 2013
The International Society for Animal Hygiene (ISAH) is proud to announce its XVIth International Congress (ISAH-2013) with the main theme:
“Animal Hygiene, Health and Welfare as Corner Stones of Sustainable Animal Production”.
The XVIth International Congress of the ISAH will offer professionals and the interested public in fields of animal hygiene, health and welfare a multidisciplinary informative platform. Based upon your great contributions to this particular field, the organizing committee cordially invites you to participate in XVIth International Congress on Animal Hygiene to be held on May 5-9 in 2013, the year of the snake, in Nanjing, China. The bi-annual congresses of ISAH initiated in 1970 have become accepted as an influential conference worldwide for professionals in animal hygiene, health and welfare to discuss and develop the latest research breakthroughs as well as potential business opportunities. It will manage to provide an exellent platform for information exchange and business collaborations. Traditionally joint sessions will be organised together with FAO, and presentations will be given by specialised companies.
For further information including the scientific programme and registration details please visit the ISAH Congress website – http://isah2013.njau.edu.cn/.
EFSA Scientific Colloquium XVIII on Towards holistic approaches to the risk assessment of multiple stressors in bees
Bees play an important role in the ecosystem and the food chain through pollination, plant biodiversity maintenance and the provision of food and derived-hive products for human uses and therefore their protection is essential. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which improves EU food safety and ensures a high level of consumer protection also need to protect bees and the ecosystem services they provide to humans. This task is currently undertaken by the Pesticides Risk Assessment (PRAS), Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW), Plant Health (PLH), Genetically and Modified Organisms (GMO), Scientific Assessment and Support (SAS) and the Emerging Risks (EMRISK) Units.
Given the consensus reached among scientists about the multifactorial origin of bee colony losses and the increasing body of scientific evidence showing the way stressors in bees may interact rather than acting solely, it is timely to assess the risks posed to bees and their services in a more integrated and multidisciplinary manner.
In line with the EFSA strategy which is to consider risk assessments (RA) in a wider integrated manner promoting in-house scientific expertise, tightening transversal collaborations across units and enhancing the inclusion of environmental aspects in the RA scheme, the EMRISK Unit of the Science Strategy and Coordination Directorate (SCISTRAT) whose mission is to identify and coordinate horizontal scientific issues, established an internal task force to reinforce the protection of bees and their ecosystem services. In particular, the task force which includes representatives of the PRAS, AHAW, PLH, GMO, SAS and EMRISK Units and Communications Directorate has the objectives to identify cross-cutting issues, gaps of knowledge, research needs and recommendations based on the most recent developments made in the areas of bees and pollination, monitoring and risk assessment (EFSA, 2012). To perform this exercise, that is to review the state of the art of the work and research produced on bees in these areas, both inside and outside EFSA, the internal task force needs to liaise and exchange with stakeholders, from national, European and International Organisations.
This Colloquium untitled “Towards holistic approaches to the risk assessment of multiple stressors in bees” will offer a unique opportunity to both international experts and EFSA for an open scientific debate on the most recent scientific progress made on pollination, monitoring and risk assessment of multiple stressors in bees along with current and futures challenges for food risk assessment in the European Union.
Registration is limited to 100 experts and closes on 3 April so for further information including the draft programme and how to register, please visit http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/events/event/130515.htm [SOURCE: EFSA]
International PRRS Symposium, 2013
The International Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Symposium for 2013 will be held in Beijing. Please visit http://www.prrssymposium.org/ for more information.
IADG Background and 14th Annual Meeting
Inter-Agency Donor Group (IADG) on pro-poor livestock research and development.
Founding Principles: At present, there is no formal global mechanism by which donors who support work on livestock research and development can communicate or coordinate their efforts, although many share common goals and outputs in their separate programmes. To address this deficiency, livestock advisers and managers from public and private sector donor and major implementing agencies, known collectively as the ‘inter-Agency Donor Group’, have met informally on an annual basis for the past 13 years in order to; i) share intelligence on contemporary issues facing livestock development ; ii) promote innovative and collaborative approaches to pro-poor livestock research ( new technologies, policies, practices) in the fields of animal health, animal production and public health; and iii) facilitate a common response by its members to research and development proposals emanating from in-country institutions, implementing agencies and other stakeholders.
The Vision of the IADG is: ‘Poverty alleviation through improved livestock production facilitated through greater donor collaboration’.
Activities: The first 11 annual meetings were held in different European countries to reflect the interest expressed in this initiative by the large donor community in the region. However, in 2011, in response to the demand of global IADG members, the 12th annual meeting was held at the AU’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (IBAR) Headquarters in Nairobi – and the focus of the meeting was on coordination challenges to livestock research in Africa- see <12th annual Inter-Agency Donor Group (IADG) meeting> for outputs of meeting. The success of the Nairobi meeting stimulated the IADG members to convene more meetings outside Europe and the invitation by the World Bank and USAID to host the meeting in Washington in April 2012 coincided with this new confidence; see <http://go.worldbank.org/QVWC780AT0> for outputs of meeting. However, in 2013, the meeting has returned to its roots in Europe and the meeting is being hosted by the German Development Agency -<Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)> in Berlin on 22-24th May 2013 where the theme of the meeting is ‘Development of livestock value chains through strengthened public-private partnerships’.
Structure: The IADG has no formal secretariat or payroll. Rather the burden of convening and reporting on meetings has been done voluntarily by a few keen individuals in collaboration with the organising committee of each meeting – normally a donor or implementing organisation. This informal structure has suited the needs of donors to date although discussions on the need for a more formal secretariat or linkages with other initiatives are held regularly.
Benefits: Tangible outputs include:
- a greater awareness among donors and other players of each other’s current and future research and development activities and future priorities to stimulate collaboration and reduce duplication of funding;
-evidence of greater collaboration between donors on common livestock research issues and the birth of new PPP initiatives such as GalvMed;
- growing interest and involvement of new donors from the private sector and from BRIC countries in attending meetings and in collaboration; and
- moving towards greater effectiveness of donor investment –poverty reduction, sustainable development,value for money.
Does big mean bad? Looking at the science behind large-scale livestock production
Large–scale intensive livestock production is currently a hot topic in the UK. There’s a lot of confusion over the advantages or disadvantages of such units. This conference is about the science behind running large successful units. What do we know and what do we need to find out? The primary focus will be on systems for pig, poultry and dairy production and the conference will draw on relevant industrial experience and views both from the UK and other countries where large units are already operating successfully.
Visit the conference website to:
- Access the programme and register
- Find out about sponsorship and exhibition opportunities
- Submit a poster – there are opportunities to present a poster with a short oral presentation, see the “Summary Guidelines” section on the website for more details, deadline for abstract submission is April 26th
Register by 1 May to take advantage of the discounted rate!
Please visit: http://www.bsas.org.uk/events-conferences/large-scale-intensive-livestock-production/
