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Pablo is the Alliance for Science’s Global Policy Lead and a member of the training team. He has a background in international trade and aid law, as well as experience in the development of public-private endeavors. He currently consults for the Guatemalan government and private firms, and encourages the entities to engage in social enterprise activities. Pablo’s passion is addressing social and environmental needs through scientific, technological, and market innovations, and progressive legal solutions. He has a bachelor’s degree in judicial and social sciences, is an attorney at law and notary public in Guatemala, and was awarded the degree of Master of Laws in international law with distinction from the University of Bristol, England.

Kasanda Bunda is the Principal Officer for climate change adaptation, Zambia Ministry of Green Economy and Environment.

Sheila Ochugboju speaks to Sarah Ngweya

Riaz Mulla is the executive Director of Food Secure Africa

https://foodsecureafrica.org

Dr. Channa S. Prakash is a Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Tuskegee University (USA) where he has served as faculty since 1989, and is professor of crop genetics, biotechnology and genomics  who is well recognized for mentoring under‐represented minority students. As Chief Academic Officer of the largest college on campus, he oversees nine departments and two programs spanning liberal arts and STEM subjects involving nearly 100 faculty members. His recent initiative was to expand eLearning offerings – increasing summer online courses from in 2015 to 31 courses in 2016. Along with the college of agriculture, he has overseen a new PhD program in Integrative Public Policy and Development.  Under Dr. Prakash’s watch, two new undergraduate degree programs in music and art have been launched with support from Mellon Foundation. External grant funding for projects in the college has doubled under his watch. Dr. Prakash’s key activities also include strategic planning, recruitment, enrollment management and retention plans; coordinating a range of tasks toward program excellence of the college; 

Dr. Prakash’s research expertise is on genetic improvement research on food crops of importance to developing countries. His lab was among the first to develop transgenic sweetpotato and peanut plants, and conduct pioneering genomic studies on peanut. His current research includes gene editing of crops using CRISPR/Cas9 system.   

Dr. Prakash has also been actively involved in enhancing the societal awareness of food biotechnology issues around the world. Dr. Prakash serves as Editor‐in‐chief of the journal GM Crops &Food. Dr. Prakash is winner of the prestigious 2015 Borlaug CAST Communication Award as according to CAST, he has “arguably done more than anyone else in academia or industry to promote agricultural technologies that can help feed the world’s growing population.” He was also recognized by Huffington Post as among the Top 30 social influencers in biopharma and biotech. He has an active presence in the social media, impacting nearly half million readers per month on Twitter (@agbioworld).   

Dr. Prakash is widely recognized as the leading proponent of science‐based agricultural development, especially in the use of molecular techniques including genetically modified crops. He provides technical, societal and ethical perspectives on the issue through his lectures and writings and on social media. He was instrumental in catalyzing the scientific community in many countries to get involved in public outreach on agbiotech issues. He is a popular speaker and his views and writing were covered in numerous newspapers and magazines. He has delivered nearly 1000 public lectures across 80 countries including venues such as Aspen Ideas Festival, World Food Prize, UN Forum on Sustainable Development, FAO, US Congress, and World Bank. He was invited three times to deliver lectures at the Vatican, and was fortunate to have an audience with Pope Francis and explain him the benefits of Golden Rice.  He has won numerous prestigious awards including the Morrison‐Evans Outstanding Scientist Award. He served as panel manager for the USDA’s biotechnology risk assessment grant program, chaired the minority affairs committee of the American Society for Plant Biology, and served on the USDA Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology with Ag Secretaries Dan Glickman and Ann Veneman.

Arif Hossain is the executive director of the Dhaka-based Farming Future Bangladesh and a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University. Earlier, he worked for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) as a senior specialist in outreach and communication. For more than a decade, Arif’s expertise in communication has included hands-on experience with international development organizations, human rights, civil society and community engagement, media, and advertising. His area of professional specialization is the intersection of strategic and development communication, advocacy, policy, and good governance reform.

Prior to IRRI, Arif worked as a communications coordinator at Plan International where he coordinated communications activities with a holistic approach working with policy makers, service providers, national and international partners, and local NGOs. Prior to that, he worked at Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) as assistant manager of outreach and communications. Arif also worked as a copywriter for A Positive Advertising Ltd., newsroom editor for Banglanews24.com, and as an organizer for the Association for Culture and Education (ACE).

Arif completed his MA and BA in English from the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh. He has a post-graduate diploma in International Relations from the University of Dhaka. He is interested in music and has received a number of national level awards as a vocal artist. He also likes to explore his passion for theater and has performed in several dramas and musical shows.

Topics of expertise: Science communications, food security, climate change, smallholder farm communities, biotechnology crops in Bangladesh (Bt brinjal, LBR potato, Bt cotton, Golden Rice), youth and agriculture, modernization of agriculture, fourth industrial revolution and agriculture, agricultural innovations, etc.

Geographic regions of expertise:  Bangladesh/South-Easth Asia

Ghana is one of the African countries working to improve food security and agricultural sustainability through scientific research and innovation. A number of public institutions in the country are applying cutting edge tools to improve food staples. In this webinar, four young scientists spearheading cutting-edge research on food security crops in Ghana — Dr. John Elebu, head of cowpea and soybean projects, West African Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI); Dr. Agyemang Danquah, head of tomato genetics program, WACCI; Dr. Mavis Owusuaa, molecular biotechnologist, University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR); and Dr. Daniel Ofosu, research scientist, Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI), will discuss their research.  The scientists will share why they’re motivated to use innovation to develop high quality, safe and nutritious crops to feed Ghana’s growing population. They will also talk about the challenges they encounter in their research and opportunities going forward for the development of good agricultural systems, improving food security, and promoting agricultural sustainability in the country.  Modesta Abugu, a PhD student in horticultural science and AgBiOFEWS Fellow at North Carolina State University, will be moderating this webinar.

Global climate change, rapid population growth and shifting diets are  creating intense pressures on agricultural systems. The recent advent  of CRISPR/Cas as an additional tool for gene editing has spurred  countless innovations in crops and livestock. From improved yields to  enhanced drought tolerance, gene editing has enabled a range of  promising improvements in a vast array of organisms. In this AfS Live  webinar, three young scientists will discuss their work in gene editing  for agriculture, their hopes for the technology and the role they seek  to play in shepherding the next generation of agricultural  biotechnology.

Panelists include Nicholas Karavolias, a Ph.D.  candidate at the Innovative Genomics Institute, home of CRISPR/Cas  technology, at the University of California, Berkeley. His work seeks to  provide an overview of how gene editing has been applied in agriculture  for climate adaptation. He uses CRISPR/Cas9 in rice to generate  varieties that are more drought-tolerant, and in cassava to improve  nutritional attributes. Maci Mueller is a Ph.D.  candidate at the University of California, Davis. Her work explores the  relative advantages of gene editing and conventional breeding to drive  the genetic improvement of cattle. Navneet Kaur is a  Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at Rothamsted Research and a 2019  Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow. Her expertise is in the  area of plant molecular biology and metabolic engineering, specifically  focused on provitamin A biofortification of banana.

Sarah Evanega, director of the Alliance for Science, will moderate.

Mexican farmers, scientists and consumers are facing the uncertain implications of a new national policy banning the import and cultivation  of genetically modified (GM) maize. Though Mexico’s President framed  his decree as supporting sustainable agriculture and improved quality of  life for farmers, it’s becoming apparent that banning scientific  innovation from the country’s fields will have significant consequences  on productivity, food prices and trade policies. In this AfS Live  webinar, fifth-generation Mexican farmer Gina Gutierrez and Mexican  economist Fernando Cruz Morales will discuss the decree and those most  likely to be impacted if it is implemented as written. The Gutierrez  family farm cultivates 40 hectares of crops to produce silage for its  420 milking cows. Gina Gutierrez started the La Vida Lactea dairy  advocacy group on social media, holds a master’s degree in corporate law  and is the 2018 winner of the Global Farmer Network’s Kleckner Award.  Morales has more than 15 years of experience in the public finance and  policy sectors, developing policies related to the agri-food sector,  environment and energy. In the private sector he has consulted with  firms focused on the development of market research, new business  development and negotiations with senior managers. He holds master’s  degrees in public administration as well as economics and public policy.  In recent years he has perfected his management capacity at the Pan  American Institute of Senior Business Management (IPADE) with a focus on  private equity and agribusiness.  Luis Ventura, a scientist and the  Alliance’s Mexico-based contributor, will moderate the session.

In East African countries, bananas are an important staple food and cash crop. However, most of the East African bananas are susceptible to pests and diseases, threatening the livelihoods of over 30 million people. Scientists in Kenya and Uganda are developing and testing hybrid cultivars resistant to Black Sigatoka disease,  the most serious constraint to banana production. 

In this episode, Patricia Nanteza will interview scientists who are developing and promoting the adoption of these hybrid banana varieties. Ivan Kabiita Arinaitwe is a banana breeder at Uganda’s National Banana Research Program, Mary Mwangi is a lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology  and Biotechnology at Kenyatta University and Grace Wamue is an associate professor of Sociology, Gender & Development Studies at Kenyatta University. They will talk about the potential of these high-yielding new hybrids to boost farmers income and food security in Africa, as well as the gender issues associated with this research.

African scientists across the continent are hopeful that gene editing is a tool that can support Africa’s food security by helping to increase crop productivity, enhance nutrition and make crops more resilient to climate change. Gene editing research is already being used to improve major staple foods in Africa, such as maize, sorghum, wheat, cassava, yam, sweet potato and banana, among others, and the research results are promising. In this session, Andrew Kiggundu, project manager of Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa (VIRCA) at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, will be discussing gene editing with James Karanja, KALRO; John Odipio, NARO Uganda, and Rose Harriet Okech, IITA-Kenya. The three scientists are working in various capacities to advance gene editing research in Africa. They will discuss opportunities and anticipated challenges as they use this tool in developing improved and climate resilient crops for Africa.

The UN Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit has invited all sectors of society to share their perspectives and solutions. Independent Food Systems Summit Dialogues are being convened around the world both before and after the Summit, effectively crowdsourcing sustainable solutions to strengthen local and global food system. This summit dialogue will explore the role of agricultural biotechnology in transforming food systems for the better by increasing the yields, efficiency or resilience of staple crops.

The line up of global speakers includes: Graham Brookes, PG Economics – UK; Motlatsi Musi, farmer, South Africa; Aileen Garcia, International Rice Research Institute – Philippines; Arif Hossain, CEO of Farming Future Bangladesh; Vitumbiko Chinoko, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology, Kenya; André Tomas Vilela Hermann, Synthetic Biology Club – Brazil; John Komen, Komen Bioscience Consultancy, Netherlands; Navneet Kaur, Indian post-doctoral researcher, Rothamsted Research – UK; Daniel Norero, Neocrop Technologies, Chile; Joseph Opoku Gakpo,  Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association; and convenor Pablo Orozco, Alliance for Science, Berlin.

Ray Dixon is a microbiologist at the John Innes Centre in the UK. He’s currently the Co-Director JIC-CAS Centre of Excellence in Plant and Microbial Science. Dixon has been working to understand the unique relationships between agricultural crops and nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

These special bacteria live in the soil, converting nitrogen existing in the atmosphere into a form that can be taken up by plants. Legume crops, like alfalfa, clover, beans, lentils, and even leguminous trees like locust, have the ability to create a symbiotic relationship with these bacteria if they are present in the soil, a benefit that both small and large scale farmers across the world have been utilizing for millennia.

If the symbiosis between legumes and nitrogen fixing bacteria could be engineered to work with other crops like cereals, it could provide farmers, consumers, and the environment with huge positive benefits. However, the exact functions that allow this process to happen are incredibly complex and scientists don’t know everything about them.

Researchers like Ray Dixon and his team at the John Innes Center are working hard to characterize the bacteria and their processes in hopes that specialized plants and associated nitrogen fixing bacteria could be co-developed, giving farmers high-yielding crops that preserve and restore soil health without requiring costly and potentially polluting synthetic fertilizers.

How can data influence decisions by smallholder farmers, as well as policy? Join AfS’ Patricia Nanteza as she talks with Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, the 2020 Africa Food Prize Laureate, about ways in which science can have a real-life impact. Nakalembe will discuss the use of satellite technology to harness data that can guide agricultural decision-making. She will speak from personal experience, sharing moments when her data averted the potentially disastrous impacts of crop failure. Nakalembe grew up in Kampala, Uganda, and attended Makerere University before earning her doctorate in geographical science at the University of Maryland, where she is an assistant research professor. She is also the NASA Harvest Africa program director and serves as the Agriculture and Food Security Thematic Lead. Nakalembe’s work led to the establishment of food security and crop monitoring bulletins that integrate satellite data in East Africa. She also designed the trigger mechanism for the disaster risk financing program in Uganda that has supported over 300,000 households.

Davies Korboe is a mango farmer and youth agribusiness advocate from Somanya in Southern Ghana . While some folks flock to cities for opportunity in their youth, Korboe found a different path, venturing into farming as a career and way of life. He graduated from college in 2002 and transitioned into farming full-time thereafter. Only a few years later, in 2009, Ghana’s Ministry of Food Agriculture recognized Korboe with an award for “Best Farmer” in the nation. Korboe has now taken to the airwaves, with his well-cultivated messaging from years of experience, as founder and on-air host of a community radio station. The station, Rites 90.1 FM, broadcasts information about agricultural opportunities targeted for youth. He also hosts an annual mentorship program for young farmers focusing on key principles in agribusiness. Korboe’s story is one of a love for agriculture and the environment, perseverance, business savviness, and a little bit of luck. What can be done to empower the next generation of farmers in Ghana? Join Alliance for Science Correspondents John Agaba and Chris Knight in conversation with Davies Korboe to learn about how a new cohort of agricultural entrepreneurs are growing a grassroots movement for change.

The webinar will discuss the opportunities, constraints, prospects and limitations of agroecology in Africa. It will explore exactly what agroecology is, the ongoing efforts to popularize it in Africa, the likely positive and negative impacts of its widespread adoption, and its intersection with modern agricultural methods, among other topics.  Panelists include: Irene Egyir, an associate professor in the University of Ghana’s Agricultural Economics Department; Nassib Mugwanya, a Ugandan agricultural communications specialist and PhD candidate at North Carolina State University; Bernard Guri, executive director of the Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development, in Ghana; Pacifique Nshimiyimana, an agribusiness entrepreneur in Rwanda, and Charles Nyaaba, head of programs and advocacy for the Peasant Farmers Association. Moderator: Joseph Opoku Gakpo, a journalist from Ghana currently enrolled in a master’s program at North Carolina State University.

Joseph Opoku speaks with Dr Michael Owusu, clinical microbiologist and  lecturer at the Department of Medical Diagnostics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana  https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/alliance-for-science-live/event/covid-vaccine-whats-at-stake-for-africa/  As wealthy nations hoard COVID-19 vaccine supplies, Africa is lagging in the global effort to immunize people against the disease even as its fatality numbers spike.  Though Africa has 17 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for just 0.2 percent of the 209 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered to people across the globe. Meanwhile, the continent is experiencing a sharp rise in COVID infections and fatalities.  As of Feb. 22, some 2.66 million doses had been administered to people living in at least seven of Africa’s 55 countries, according to data from Bloomberg that the Alliance for Science analyzed.  By comparison, the United States had administered 64.28 million doses by that same date and the United Kingdom had given 18.34 million doses. Israel has administered 7.4 million doses, China 40.5 million doses and Russia 2.2 million doses, according to the Bloomberg tracker.  South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also chairman of the African Union, recently called on wealthy nations to make more COVID-19 vaccines available to the rest of the world. He criticized them for hoarding vaccine supplies.  “The rich countries of the world went out and acquired large doses. Some even acquired up to four times what their population needs … to the exclusion of other countries,” Ramaphosa observed during a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum.  The European Union has ordered 525 million more full vaccinations than will be needed to vaccinate all its population, said Robin Cohen, a professor of development studies at the University of Oxford, after analyzing data from the Duke Health Innovation Center. The UK has ordered 65 million surplus full vaccinations, while Canada has ordered 156 million excess full vaccinations. Other wealthy nations have similarly ordered doses far in excess of what they need.  The African Union recently announced it has secured  400 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for the continent under COVAX, a World Health Organization initiative, bringing the total number of COVID-19 doses secured for Africa to 1.27 billion doses. However, it could take years before all those doses become available and at least 1.5 billion doses will be needed to vaccinate just 60 percent of the continent’s population.

Latin America is a vast region with tremendous biodiversity as well as a growing population that needs to be fed. Yet 25 years after genetic engineering was introduced, the debate continues, with some LATAM countries imposing bans and restrictions. Now scientific innovation is taking the region on a different path. In a move to help Latin America realize its potential as a world power in food production,  farmers are partnering with scientists to create new crop varieties using gene editing techniques such as CRISPR-CAS 9.  In this webinar, we will have a conversation with LATAM scientists who currently are researching these new crop varieties in their laboratories. We will also discuss how existing genome editing regulation in the region will affect how quickly these crops get into the fields.  Join this conversation to learn what genome editing is, which crops are being gene-edited, why LATAM is investing in new breeding techniques and who is doing the research.  Panelists include: Claudia Stange Klein, a professor in the Department of Biology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Chile whose research involves the use of biotechnology to improve fruit and vegetable crops; Alejandro Hernández, a research professor in genome editing and bioinformatics at TEC University in Costa Rica and regional director of biotechnology CA&C for CropLife who previously had position in government; and Paul Chavarriaga, leader of CIAT’s Genetic Transformation and Genome Edition Platform, the first to produce genetically edited rice and cassava (and soon beans) in Latin America,  Moderator: Luis Ventura, a biologist with expertise in biosafety and 2016 Cornell Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow representing Mexico.

In late 2020, Nigeria released five new cassava varieties in Nigeria. Their names indicate their attributes for the farmer, cook or consumer: Game-Changer, Hope, Obasanjo-2, Baba-70 and Poundable.  Join NextGen project leader Chiedozie Egesi and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture plant breeders Ismail Rabbi and Siraj Kayondo as they talk about these new varieties of cassava and their potential to improve food security and household incomes.  Tessy Madu, a research scientist at the National Root Crops Research Institute, will address the gender-specific benefits of these new varieties.

What challenges in global food systems, agriculture and the environment will the incoming Biden administration inherit? What opportunities for impact can be utilized across different sociocultural contexts and geographies? Will the richest country in the world be able to realize an inclusive development paradigm that reduces poverty for men, women and children from the Sahel through South Asia to Central America? Will small holder farmers be given the tools they need to sustainably manage their land while producing enough to make a profit?  According to the World Health Organization, global hunger was on the rise prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Almost 700 million people went hungry in 2019, and the pandemic is estimated to push an additional 130 million people into food security. Three billion people currently cannot afford a healthy diet, and in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, this is true for 57 percent of the population.  On the production side, the Food and Agriculture Organization found that the COVID-19 pandemic is substantially affecting market access for smallholder producers. Amidst these difficulties, farmers can expect to be continually challenged by climate change, depleted soils, stiff competition in markets, and emerging threats from agricultural pests and diseases. Join Colin Christensen and Arif Hossain as they discuss these compelling issues.   Colin Christensen is the global policy director of the One Acre Fund, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that provides financing and training to 1 million smallholder farmers in six countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.   Arif Hossain is the executive director of Farming Future Bangladesh, a communications and community engagement initiative that works to improve access to agricultural innovations to ensure sustainable food security. He holds a post-graduate degree in international relations from the University of Dhaka and is a 2015 Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellow.

Latino América es una región rica en biodiversidad y contrastes. Países con el más alto nivel de producción de OGMs en el mundo coexisten con países que han prohibido los cultivos genéticamente modificados a nivel Constitucional. Se parte de esta charla con cuatro científicos latinoamericanos que abordarán el pasado, el presente y el futuro de los OGMs en sus regiones. Los panelistas Lucia de Souza de Brasil, Daniel Domínguez de México, Sherly Montaguth de Colombia y Marcelo Castro de Costa Rica también hablarán sobre los desafíos que enfrentan los científicos latinoamericanos en la búsqueda de incrementar la adopción de la innovación en los campos agrícolas de la región. Luis Ventura de México y Global Leadership Fellow de la Alliance for Science, moderará la plática.

Using the tools of biotechnology, Cornell University researcher Dennis Gonsalves, now retired, bred a papaya resistant to the destructive ringspot virus. It was the first genetically modified commercial crop developed by a public sector scientist, and it saved Hawaii’s papaya farmers from ruin. In this program, Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows discuss the GM papaya from three different perspectives. In this broadcast, Joni Kamia talks about the modified papaya's success on her family’s farm on Oahu, Luis Ventura explores its potential in Mexico and Guido Nunez-Mujica will shares its tragic tale in Venezuela.

What is it like to be a black woman scientist? Do they feel invincible, less than their colleagues or like they belong? Are they in a constant battle to prove themselves, or do they feel free to focus on the thing they love – science? How do they deal with the stereotypes associated with being female, as well as those associated with being black? Though the number of black women in STEM remains low, it has increased since the 1990s. Dr. Diana Nanyumba, a Ugandan medical doctor based in the United Kingdom, will be conversing with Esther Ngumbi, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They’ll discuss what it means to be a black woman in a field traditionally dominated by men and a few white women.

In the fourth of our “GMO firsts” series we discuss insect-resistant (Bt) cowpea — the first genetically modified (GM) food crop unique to Africa and the first GM food crop to be commercially approved in Nigeria. This crop, which is a protein-rich staple food for millions, represents a major food security milestone for Nigeria and West Africa.  In this broadcast, Nkechi Isaac, a Nigerian journalist and Alliance for Science correspondent,  Dr. Rose Gidado, assistant director of the Agricultural Biotechnology Department at the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and Nigerian Country Coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), and Prof. Mohammad Ishiyaku, principal investigator of the cowpea project at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, discuss the nutritional importance of cowpea as a “poor man’s meat,” the effectiveness of Bt cowpea in reducing pesticide use and the status of getting improved seeds out to Nigeria’s farmers.

In the third of our “GMO firsts” series we discuss the AquAdvantage salmon — the world’s first and only genetically modified animal approved for food. The AquAdvantage salmon grows to market weight in about half the time of a typical salmon, improving its sustainability. Join AquaBounty CEO Sylvia Wulf and Greg Jaffe, associate director of policy and regulatory affairs for the Cornell Alliance for Science, as they discuss the development of the salmon and its long regulatory journey to earn approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration.

In the inaugural session of our “GMO Firsts” series, Tony Shelton of Cornell University and Arif Hossain of Farming Future Bangladesh takes us down memory lane to 2013, when Bangladesh commercialized Bt brinjal (eggplant), South Asia’s first GMO food crop. They share how and why the idea of a transgenic brinjal was conceived, discuss the institutions and researchers behind its creation, explain the long process that led finally to deregulation and share the excitement of the big day when Bt brinjal was planted in a farmer’s field. The broadcast wraps up with some figures on how Bt brinjal has changed farmers’ livelihoods and health. Did you know that Bt brinjal brought about a 77 percent reduction in pesticide use? Register and listen to this amazing “GMO Firsts” story.

Dr. William (Bill) Powell, director of the American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Dr. Jared Westbrook, director of science at the American Chestnut Foundation, discuss the campaign to win regulatory approval for the blight-tolerant chestnut tree as the first genetically modified tree used in environmental conservation use in the US. The talk is be moderated by Sara Fitzsimmons, director of restoration at the American Chestnut Foundation.  If you’d like to support the GM chestnut, the USDA is accepting public comments through October 19, 2020 at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/19/2020-18135/state-university-of-new-york-college-of-environmental-science-and-forestry-petition-for#open-comment

The term agroecology is being used increasingly often, but what exactly does it mean? Is it a science, a system, a practice, a movement, an ideology or a combination of the above?  Our panelists will share their definitions of the term and discuss where agroecology can best be implemented. What are some of the opportunities and constraints in its adoption? What is driving the agroecology movement? What does it have in common with other systems of agriculture? And what role can it play in making agriculture more sustainable?  The panelists are: Pamela Ronald, professor in the Genome Center and the Department of Plant Pathology, and founding director of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy, at the University of California, Davis; Frédéric Baudron, senior scientist and systems agronomist at CIMMYT; and Nassib Mugwanya, Ugandan agricultural communications specialist and PhD candidate at North Carolina State University. Joan Conrow, Alliance for Science managing editor, will moderate.

Prof. Shabir A. Madhi, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Dr. Michael Owusu, a clinical microbiologist and a lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, discuss Africa’s critical role in the global efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.   Topics include the current status and safety of clinical trials of vaccines; how vaccines are developed and distributed; the policy and regulatory requirements for development,  registration, access and use of vaccines; the safety and efficacy of vaccines; the role of public sentiment in accepting or rejecting a COVID vaccine; and political will and its impact on vaccine access on the continent.  Dr. Mercy Korir, a health journalist and editor with The Standard Group in Kenya, moderates the discussion.

The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), an Alliance for Science partner, leads this discussion on technology adoption in Africa. Dr. Munyaradzi Jonga, AATF’s seed production manager, and Dr. Daniel Kyallo Willy, a program officer with AATF, share evidence about the speed at which African farmers are taking up new improved crop varieties and discuss concrete, actionable steps on how to improve technology adoption in Africa. Nancy Muchiri, AATF’s head of communications and partnerships, moderates the discussion.

Eliane Bayala, a 2019 AfS Global Leadership Fellow and assistant coordinator at the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Burkina Faso, teams up with  Dr. Edgar Traore of OFAB Burkina Faso and Wiledio Naboho, a farmer in Burkina Faso, to give an update on the country's agriculture sector two years after banning BT cotton. This session is in French.

Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows Evans Okomeng (Ghana) and Alfred Namaasa (Uganda) discuss how COVID-19 is impacting agriculture and food security in Africa. Can small-scale agricultural systems become more resilient under health pandemics? What lessons can be learned?  Please note that technical difficulties meant that Veronica Mwaba (Zambia) was unfortunately unable to attend as planned and both Evans and Alfred had video connection problems.

Dr. Mercy Korir, a medical journalist with KTN News in Kenya, teams up with Dr. Wilson Winstons Muhwezi, associate professor of behavioral sciences and mental health at Makerere University, to discuss the myths and truth surrounding COVID-19 in Africa. They also offer guidance to governments as countries start to ease lockdowns. Christine Elong, development communications officer at the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda, moderates the talk.

Prof. Trevor Charles, chief science officer of Metagenom Bio and director of Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research, discusses what he sees as the future of agriculture — hydroponics. As the global population increases, the availability of land remains static, yet food production must continue to expand. Are vertical farms and other hydroponic production systems sustainable and cost-effective? Can we grow more food without soil? Dr. Charles addresses these questions and more.  #afslive #allianceforscience #hydroponics

En esta sesión vamos a conversar con mujeres empoderadas en la ciencia que compartirán experiencias ejemplares en la constante búsqueda de la equidad de género en el sector.  Sol Guerrero Ortiz: Es Bióloga con una maestría en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre. Actualmente trabaja con cooperación internacional en temas de medio ambiente con énfasis en integración de la conservación y el uso sostenible de biodiversidad. Es parte del cohorte 2016 del Programa de Liderazgo Global de la Alianza para la Ciencia de Cornell.  Susana Arrechea: Ingeniera química, maestra y doctora en nanotecnología, actualmente trabaja como investigadora y como profesora. Arrechea ha desarrollado proyectos de nanotecnología, emprendimiento e innovación en Guatemala e internacionalmente. Es una científica reconocida con varios premios como el OWSD-Elsevier para mujeres investigadoras.  Dalia Marcela Lewi: Ingeniera Agrónoma con orientación Fitotecnia (UBA) y Doctora en Ciencias Biológicas de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales de la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Actualmente (desde 12 de mayo de 2020) es la Directora de Biotecnología del Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca de la Nación Argentina. Lideró el Grupo de Transformación Genética Vegetal en el Instituto de Genética de INTA hasta hacerse cargo de la Dirección en el Ministerio.

Four African women farmers discuss the innovative measures they are using to get their crops to the public despite Africa's lockdowns and travel restrictions during the COVID pandemic.

Abebe Menkir has been breeding maize for over 20 years. He currently heads the maize breeding department at CGIAR-IITA. Menkir talks to Patricia Nanteza about the need to increase agricultural resilience in the face of climate change and global pandemics such as COVID-19. Maize, especially the orange variety, can provide the vitamin A necessary to boost immunity and also meet the body’s energy requirements.

Bright Simons, founder and president of mPedigree; Whitney Phillips, Syracuse University; Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol; Joanne Miller, University of Delaware; John Cook, George Mason University and moderator Mark Lynas discuss the nature and appeal of conspiracy theories and how to deal with them.