In Chile, as in other countries, cultivation and handling of genetically modified (GM) plant species follow important regulations adopted from different national and international biosafety agreements and regulations (i.e. Cartagena’s protocol, seed production system, and sui generis procedures such as Regulation #1523). In that line, incorporation of GM crops into agriculture has forced the reformulation of biosafety evaluation systems and risk analysis, regarding the effect of this type of agriculture on the local biodiversity.

The project “Internet para el desarrollo agrícola de Chile” (Internet for agricultural development in Chile) is an initiative developed by researchers at the Chilean National Agricultural Research Institute (Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA-Chile), www.inia.cl) in which collaborative efforts within the Institute and with other public Chilean institutions are included to provide local information, methodologies and scientific tools that could facilitate decision-making in two areas: a) environmental risk assessment of GM plants on biodiversity and b) co-existence between different agricultural practices.

TOP is a tool designed to assess the environmental impact which involves introducing a cultivated species in the Chilean vascular flora.

Instrument based on methodologies and experimental approaches for the generation of data, including experimental strategies that can be applied during different stages in the Environmental Risk Assessment related to the genetic transformation of plants.