VZCZCXRO9188
RR RUEHCHI RUEHHM
DE RUEHBK #0125/01 0151048
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151048Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9585
INFO RUEHVN/AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE 5960
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 3038
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 7826
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 7505
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1053
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 000125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EEB/TPP/MTAA/ABT - MSZYMANSKI AND JBOBO 
USDA/FAS/OSTA/GILBERTA 
USDA/FAS/OCRA/LUCHOKD 
HO CHI MIN CITY FOR USDA MICHAEL RIEDEL 
CHIANG MAI FOR KROSIER 
DEPARTMENT FOR EB/TPP/ABT/BTT 
EB/TPP/ABT/BTT/JFINN 
EB/TPP/ABT/BTT/GCLEMENTS 
FAS/OSTA/MHENNEY 
DEPT PASS TO USTR/WEISEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD TBIO KPAO BEXP SENV TH
SUBJECT:  BANGKOK PROPOSAL: 2009 AG-BIOTECHNOLOGY OUTREACH FUNDS 
 
REF: A) Bangkok 0111 and emailed Conference report to EEB; (B) 09 
Bangkok 2551; (C) 09 STATE 122732 (D) 09 Bangkok 0141; (E) 09 State 
94920 (F) Phnom Pehn 0128 
 
¶1. SUMMARY:  Embassy Bangkok requests $20,000 in funding from the 
Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs' (EEB) agricultural 
biotechnology outreach funds for FY2010.  EEB's funding would 
support a workshop on the intersection of biotechnology, food 
security, rice production and the four lower Mekong countries.  Post 
will also seek IIP speaker program funds to bring two U.S. speakers 
to this workshop.  Participants would include scientists and 
agricultural policy officials from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and 
Vietnam.  The two-day workshop would seek to identify the threats to 
rice production from climate change and from water infrastructure 
management; update on rice biotech advances; show how biotechnology 
can help solve food security issues; how biotech products can 
improve export prospects; update on agricultural trade policy; and 
how wetlands and protected area management should connect to 
agricultural biotechnology.  The conference would be in Bangkok and 
would synchronize with the environment and education pillars of the 
Secretary's Lower Mekong Initiative.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND - BIOTECH AND THAILAND 
--------------------------------- 
¶2. Thailand is an important but difficult locale for biotech 
outreach.  (Refs B and D)  As the world's number one rice exporter, 
it is a key nation for regional food security.  Climate change 
threatens rice production via projected increases in flooding and 
drought, as well as salinization of the Chao Praya waterway. There 
is substantial biotech agricultural research in Thailand, but policy 
lags over unsubstantiated concerns about safety for humans and the 
environment, and misperceptions of trade implications, especially by 
the NGO community. Embassy Bangkok used EEB and IIP outreach funds 
to support a risk communication workshop in 2009 (Ref A).  While the 
workshop was well-received, there remain problems with acceptance of 
GMOs despite well publicized concerns over looming climate change 
effects. FAS Bangkok is considering a proposal, with which Embassy 
economic section would support, for a follow-up workshop where 
stakeholders could develop a risk communication strategy to move 
biotech forward. 
 
 
BACKGROUND - RICE, FOOD SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
¶3.  The Asian Development Bank has identified Cambodia, Burma and 
Lao PDR as Asian countries most vulnerable to climate change. 
According to an International Food Policy Research Institute study, 
the Asia-Pacific region will experience the worst climate change 
effect on rice and wheat yields worldwide, and decreased yields 
could threaten the food security of 1.6 billion people in South 
Asia.  USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) is 
considering programmatic responses to rice, climate change and food 
security, to include conducting forums that identify and promote 
agriculture strategies which promote climate change adaptation; 
examples include: promoting agro-forestry and integrated farming 
systems; promoting research; and conducting pilots for upland rice 
and other resilient crop varieties that withstand climate effects. 
Embassy Bangkok's proposed conference would seek to fit into USAID 
assessments and program strategies. 
 
THE LOWER MEKONG INITIATIVE (LMI) AND FOOD SECURITY 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
¶4. Under LMI, the U.S. will collaborate with the Lower Mekong 
countries - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - in the areas of 
the environment and climate change, health, education and 
infrastructure development.  (Ref E)  Another foreign policy 
objective is global food security.  Rice and other agricultural 
production in the four Lower Mekong nations is complicated by not 
only climate change, but also manmade water management plans.  For 
example, Thailand plans large diversions of the Mekong River on its 
border, while Vietnam has made, and will continue to make, extensive 
channeling of Mekong water to enhance rice production.  China, of 
course, also is planning several dams on the Mekong.  Human 
engineering for rice production may have unintended negative 
consequences for the environment as well as rice production.  For 
 
BANGKOK 00000125  002 OF 003 
 
 
this reason, one of the LMI activities is development of a 
partnership between the Mekong River Commission and the Mississippi 
River Commission; lessons learned from Mississippi River management 
(with rice a major crop in Louisiana and other states) will help 
Mekong river management.  As insecticide use in rice fields is 
extensive in some lower Mekong areas, such as the Mekong delta, the 
environmental benefits of GMOs could bring important allies from 
environment officials.  With rice and other crop production a key 
element for the four nations, and the great promise that GMOs hold 
for rice production in the face of climate change, an outreach event 
that draws together these four countries, food security, rice and 
the environment in the context of science and biotechnology is a 
natural fit. 
 
OUTREACH PROPOSAL 
---------------- 
¶5. Embassy Bangkok, in collaboration with FAS, USAID/RDMA, Embassies 
Vientiane, Phnom Phen and Hanoi would hold a conference on 
"Agricultural Production, Climate Change and Biotechnology" for two 
days in the spring of 2010.  The conference would review climate 
change predictions for rice and other crop production in the various 
aspects of rice farming - dry and wet season, rice paddy and dry 
land.  Another presentation would relate rice and other crop 
production to food security for Asia.  Another would review how 
manmade water management - irrigation diversions, canals, dykes and 
hydropower dams, will affect rice production.  The conference would 
then move into the state of biotechnology for rice production in the 
U.S. and China, what biotech could offer for rice producers, and 
what the actual state of play is for rice biotech exports to, for 
example, Europe under WTO rules.  Targeted participants would be a 
mix of scientists and government officials, the latter a mix of 
environment, water management, trade and agriculture officials. 
 
PLANNED PARTNERS 
---------------- 
¶6.  Post plans to collaborate with various partners to give 
participants a range of considerations for how biotechnology 
intersects with other disciplines.  A conference date not later than 
early April date would be preferred so that Embassy Bangkok can make 
use of its visiting Embassy Science Fellow, a USDA soil scientist, 
who can present on USDA knowledge and in particular, the synergy 
that soil mapping can bring to rice production for the lower Mekong 
countries.  Under the LMI, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is 
working to help model climate change and water management scenarios 
for the Mekong River basin, and a USGS speaker could advance the LMI 
while presenting on rice lessons learned from Louisiana and 
California water management.  A biotechnology U.S. speaker from the 
IIP speaker program could cover the biotech presentation.  Embassy 
Bangkok proposes to use the February visit of Senior Advisor Jack 
Bobo to help set the stage for a proposed conference, if accepted by 
EEB.  Embassy Bangkok would plan to make use of in-house expertise 
with RDMA and FAS regional offices. Embassies Bangkok, Phnom Pehn, 
Vientiane and Hanoi would cooperate to bring several key 
participants from each country. 
 
SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL 
¶7. Per Ref C format: 
-- Cost $20,000 in EEB funds for conference, to include site rental, 
air fare and hotels for 15 participants from the three other LMI 
countries; Post will seek IIP funding for two U.S. speakers and use 
Thai experts for other speakers. 
-- Target audiences: scientists and government officials in 
environment, agriculture, trade 
-- Ag-biotech issues to be addressed: rice production, climate 
change, water management 
-- How the project would help meet USG policy 
Objectives: take difficulties with biotech policy in lower Mekong 
countries and make positive connection with stakeholders other than 
rice exporters to show how biotech can help lower Mekong countries, 
the environment, food security and climate change preparations. 
-- Proposed length of program: two days or less as funds allow; 
-- IIP Speaker Program: yes, Post would want to use IIP 
-- Post responsible officer: ESTH Hub officer Hal Howard for State, 
howardhh@state.gov; (66) (2) 205-4712. 
 
 
BANGKOK 00000125  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶8. Post would evaluate the success of this event by four methods: 
(1) the number and quality of participants, (2) the results of an 
evaluation conducted at the conclusion of the event, (3) review of 
media coverage and analysis of whether the program influenced public 
perceptions, and (4) follow-ups with selected participants on how 
knowledge acquired at the seminar was applied in their policy and 
business decisions. 
 
¶9.  This proposal has been coordinated with Bangkok FAS and ESTHoffs 
in Embassies Phnom Penh, Vientiane and Hanoi. 
 
JOHN