Following a meeting in Japan between members of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, Mariam Mayet says there ‘is a huge disconnect between the rather timid, insipid and potentially dated work of the Protocol and the huge biosafety challenges presented on the domestic level in many countries’.

Ten years after the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Biosafety Protocol) was adopted, the Parties to the Protocol met in Nagoya Japan between 11 – 15 October 2010 to adopt a new treaty, the ‘Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety’ (Supplementary Protocol).

This new treaty will need to be ratified by at least 40 parties to the Biosafety Protocol before it can come into effect. Its consequent implementation will take place within the overall framework of the Biosafety Protocol in an integrated manner.

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Rhodes University has re- launched its old tick research unit with a new laboratory, new partnerships and a new focus on solving local agricultural pest problems.

Situated near the 1820 Settlers Monument, the old unit was closed in 1993 due to insufficient funding. It was standing derelict until last year when the university committed itself to a R50000 upgrade.

The money funded the installation of a new laboratory, and the cost of projects and running the facility are covered in partnership with different agricultural sectors, Rhodes entomology head Prof Martin Hill said.

“What is most important is our focus now on integrated pest management, where we look at reducing the amount of pesticides we put into the environment and instead use the pests‘ natural enemies, like spiders, wasps and parasitoids.”

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