The bimonthly WIPO Magazine (available in English, French and Spanish) aims to inform readers about WIPO-led activities, and to show intellectual property, creativity and innovation at work across the world.

New Rice for Africa

Climate change, drought, desertification, soaring food prices, hunger …Nowhere do these inter-twined threats to development menace more starkly than in Africa.

To mitigate the threats, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called, at the annual meeting of the Commission for Sustainable Development in May, for a fresh generation of agricultural technologies to usher in a second green revolution, - “one which permits sustainable yield improvements with minimal environmental damage and contributes to sustainable development goals.”

Plant-breeding technologies – often combining traditional knowledge with cutting edge biotechnological techniques – are already making real impact in meeting the challenge. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Rice Market Monitor reports that rice production in Africa has risen consecutively for over seven years, and is forecast to rise further in 2008 to 23.2 million tonnes. A major factor in this growth has been the success of a new type of rice, known as the New Rice for Africa – or Nerica.

The new rice was the result of years of work by a team of plant breeders and molecular biologists led by Sierra Leonean scientist Monty Jones at the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA – now the Africa Rice Center). When Dr. Jones set up the biotechnology research program in 1991, some 240 million people in West Africa were dependant on rice as their primary source of food energy and protein, but the majority of Africa’s rice was imported, at an annual cost of US$1 billion. WARDA’s objective was to produce a rice variety which was better suited to the harsh conditions in African. ...

Download WIPO Magazine, June 2008

PDF format, 1.5MB, 32Pages.

    * The Scientist, the Patent and the Mangoes - Tripling the Mango Yield in the Philippines
    * Climate Change - Plant Breeding Technologies Fighting Hunger - New Rice for Africa
    * Climate Change: Hot Property – IP Strategies in the Solar Tech Sector
    * Upping the Stakes in the Egyptian Film Industry - Adel Adeeb
    * IP for Business: The Fall and Rise of Pharma Brand Names
    * World IP Day in Pictures
    * Mobilizing Young Talent
    * Film Your IP
    * Digitizing Traditional Culture
    * Out of the Shadows - Wayang
    * Broadcasting the IP Story in Africa
    * Famous Arab Brand Names
    * Coordination Committee: Francis Gurry Nominated as Next Director General
    * In the News
    * Letters and Comment

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NEW AT WIPO

    * WIPO Committee agrees on future work on patents. Member states of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), meeting from June 23 to 26, began a comprehensive review of issues relating to the international patent system. 

    * Next WIPO Director General is nominated.Mr. Francis Gurry, a national of Australia, was nominated by the WIPO Coordination Committee on May 13 to become the next Director General of WIPO. The candidate will have to be appointed by the WIPO General Assembly at its next meeting from September 22 to 30. More...

    * OAPI Accedes to International Industrial Designs Treaty.Following the accession on June 16 of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, users will be able to file a single application for the registration of their industrial designs in all 16 OAPI countries as well as in all the other member countries of the Geneva Act. 

    * WIPO to Launch Pilot Training Program for Indigenous Communities.The pilot program, to be launched in September, will assist indigenous communities to document and digitize their own cultural traditions, archive this heritage for future generations, and safeguard their interests in authorizing the use of their recordings and traditions by third parties.    * New Masters Degree in Intellectual Property at Africa University. The new degree program, offered jointly by WIPO, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and Africa University, starts on August 4 at Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe. Deadline for applications is June 30.

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