COP29 will take place at The Baku Stadium located in the Capital City of Azerbaijan in November 2024. Having been involved in COP events since 2017, orientations.events are delighted to have been appointed as the Official Contractor for ‘Delegation Services’ at this year’s event. We are responsible for the Delegation Offices and Pavilions and all the related services required.

Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Fiji, the SIDS (Small Island Developing States) Solutions Forum 2024, from 5 to 8 November, is a high level platform, aimed at sharing innovative solutions and showcasing their impacts and scalability to transform how food is produced, distributed and consumed in the Pacific Islands region.

The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) announced the submission of a Petition for Review on Certiorari with a request for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction before the Supreme Court, in line with the Court of Appeals' decision in the Writ of Kalikasan case filed against Golden Rice, also known as Malusog Rice.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) GMO Panel releases a statement on the assessment of the additional information on the application for authorization of food and feed containing, consisting of, and produced from genetically modified (GM) soybean MON 87705 × MON 87708 × MON 89788. The assessment was requested by the Europen Commission, following EFSA's scientific opinion published on April 2, 2020.

Gene technologies moved the world to “the dawn of a new era” and have the potential to contribute significant solutions to the world's challenges in food security, climate, and biodiversity. This message was delivered by Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) during the Borlaug International Dialogue of the World Food Prize 2024 opening ceremony held on October 29, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa.

On October 8, 2024, the European Commission approved four genetically engineered (GE) crops for food and animal feed. The four authorizations were published in the European Union's Official Journal on October 10, 2024, and all will remain valid for 10 years. The authorizations were given to two GE maize/corn crops, with the other two as renewal of authorizations for one maize/corn crop and one cotton crop for food and animal feed.

A study conducted by researchers from the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences and Hunan Agricultural University showed that editing elF4E in watermelon through CRISPR-Cas9 technology confers resistance against zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV). Watermelon is a vital cucurbit crop valued for its nutritional and economic significance globally. However, its cultivation faces major challenges, with viral infections posing a significant threat that causes reduced harvests and financial losses for farmers.

On October 22, 2024, a special event was held at the Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity  (CBD COP16) in Cali to celebrate Colombia's ratification of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Republic of Colombia has deposited its instrument of ratification of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture with the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and will become the 153rd Contracting Party.

On October 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Unified Website for Biotechnology Regulation, a new web-based tool for companies developing microbial biotechnology products. The unified website provides information on regulatory requirements and approval processes for biotechnology products with genetically modified (GM) microorganisms.

In a study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, Germany, scientists established a system to generate clonal sex cells in tomato plants and used them to design the genomes of offspring. The fertilization of a clonal egg from one parent by a clonal sperm from another parent produced plants containing the complete genetic information of both parents.