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OCTOBER 2015 SEEDWORLD.COM 71 eggplant. The copies of dec- larations were handed over by biotech corn farmer-leader Edwin Paraluman during the Forum on the Global Alliance for Agri-biotech GAABT Model on Low-level Presence and GM and Organic Farming Co-existence held Sept. 30 at the Iloilo Convention Center. Source Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology. STATUS SYRIA The war in Syria makes it difficult for research organiza- tions and gene banks such as the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas ICARDA to access seeds. Currently headquartered in Beirut Lebanon ICARDA manages a gene bank in Aleppo Syria. ICARDAs GeneBank holds in-trust around 150000 accessions in the active collection and dis- tributes up to 25000 samples a year. However the situa- tion in Syria has affected its genetic resources activities. In 2014 ICARDA had dupli- cated more than 80 percent of its unique collection of plant genetic resources 116484 accesssions of germ- plasm and shipped it to Norways Global Seed Vault. Mahmoud Solh ICARDA director general shares that sets have been duplicated in several gene banks including CGIARs research centers the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and safe places in Germany Turkey Lebanon and Morocco. Until recently we were using and dispatching bulk seeds of these genetic materials to meet requests from Aleppo in spite of the tough security situation Solh says. As a result in September ICARDA requested to with- draw part of its genetic mate- rials that had been duplicated at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway to reconsti- tute the active collection in both Morocco and Lebanon in large bulks to better meet incoming requests. Due to Syrias civil war the Global Seed Vault also known as the Doomsday Vault will now allow a withdrawal of its contents for the first time in its existence. Established in 2008 the vault can hold 4.5 million varieties and was built to survive rising sea levels power outages and other events that could affect the seeds says Brian Lainoff of The Crop Trust the foun- dation that oversees the vault. He shares that about 500 seeds of each variety are contained within the vault and they are key to genetic resistance against potential diseases that could affect the worlds major crops. Source ICARDA. STATUS ZAMBIA The 2015 African Green Revolution Forum was held Sept. 29 Oct. 2 in Zambia. Organized by the AGRF Partners Group the govern- ment of Zambia and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa the theme for the event was Walking the Talk on Youth and Women Bringing Inclusive Agricultural Markets to Life. Michael Sudarka AGRF program director says this is timely and apt as Africa seeks to make the prosperity inherent in agriculture more inclusive for women and youth. Sylvia Mwichuli AGRF convenor adds that Africas agriculture has the potential to generate all of the food that is currently imported valued at 35 billion per year. Historically women and youth have been disenfranchised with regard to accessing agri- cultural finance and markets. For Africa to fully unlock the prosperity inherent in agri- culture Sudarka says that the full value chain must work for men women and youth. Africa must define clear strat- egies for increasing access to operation finance and to lucrative markets to enable youth and women engaging in agriculture as a business enterprise he says. This will in turn spur the growth of associated industries with the net result being more shared prosperity for Africas men women and youth. Source Africa Green Revolution Forum. SW