Second National Workshop on Biosafety Clearing-House Mechanism (BCH), Republic of Tajikistan

According to the work plan for organizing seminars and trainings, on June 14, 2021, the second National BCH Workshop in the Republic of Tajikistan began its work, in which reviews of the BCH III project and an overview of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CTB) were presented. The interested bodies of the Committee for Environmental Protection, the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, the Agency for Hydrometeorology and other organizations took part in the seminar.

The purpose of the seminar is to train representatives of the organization involved in solving the problem of biosafety in Tajikistan.

During the introductory part of the seminar, the participants got acquainted with the principles and rules for the sustainable use of the mediation mechanism on regional and global portals.

As trainers introduced to the workshop participants, Regional Advisers Dr. Ruelle Maningas and Ms. Galina Mozgova presented their training presentations on the topics of introduction to the workshop, Overview of the BCH III Project.

The topics discussed included living modified organisms, interrelated biosafety concepts and regulations, and the role of the BCH in meeting the obligations of the Cartagena Protocol. The workshop also presented examples of exercises on using the BCH to find information in which the participants were very active.

The clearing-house mechanism is a broad global database and is compatible with different levels of national capacities, is country driven, structurally decentralized, provides access to information, supports decision-making, does not have a statutory right to oversee expertise or information, and is created for the mutual benefit of all participants.

The Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) is an information exchange mechanism established by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, under the Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is intended to assist Parties in implementing the main provisions of the Protocol, and to facilitate the exchange of information and experience with regard to living modified organisms (LMOs). It is intended to promote and facilitate scientific and technical cooperation in countries and between countries, to develop a global mechanism for the exchange and integration of information in the field of biodiversity, to create the necessary network of human resources and technologies.

Also, all the participants were shown and explained all the functions for finding information located in the portal bch.cbd.int