1 May 2010 UN agency review panel invitation reflects international stature of NZ scientist

A New Zealand scientist is one of five experts chosen from around the world for membership of an international panel to carry out evaluation work for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)/International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Emeritus Professor Kuan Goh of New Zealand’s specialist land-based university, Lincoln University, is a soil scientist and international expert in the application of isotopic techniques for enhancing food and agricultural production. His research, which has led to more than 300 publications, is mainly on the dynamics and impacts of soil nutrient cycling and organic matter in agricultural, natural and geochemical systems.

In Vienna he will join specialists from the USA, UK, South Africa and Brazil in reviewing the role and worldwide contributions of the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories. The scientists were chosen for their expertise, not country of origin. The review starts this month. (May)

There are five specialist laboratories within the structure of the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories - Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Animal Production and Health, Insect Pest Control, and Food and Environmental Protection. Each of the panel members is an internationally acknowledged expert in a field specific to the work of each of the laboratories.

The Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories (ABL) is mandated to “assist Member States to develop and adapt new and existing agricultural technologies involving isotopes and radiation to suit local requirements and environmental conditions, and to provide training and analytical services pertaining to the efficient use of these technologies”.  

The laboratories provide a broad range of specialised activities and services through research and development, capacity building, technology transfer and technical services. “Member States” receiving ABL assistance include Arab states, Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Vietnam, and countries in Africa and Latin America.

At the conclusion of the Vienna-based part of the review, Professor Goh will travel to Sri Lanka and Myanmar to examine delivery of the assistance programmes. The review covers the years 2006-2009 and in meeting its terms of reference the panel will interview staff members and external partners. A written report is expected by late-July, early August.

Emeritus Professor Goh says the review is a normal procedural activity as regularly undertaken by large organisations to measure and monitor their activities against aims and objectives. He is delighted to assist the review and feels privileged to have been invited to join the panel.

Emeritus Professor Goh is no stranger to the work of the FAO/IAEA. In 2005 he wrote a substantial section of a joint FAO/IAEA book Carbon Isotope Tracers in Investigating Soil Carbon Sequestration and Stabilisation in Agro-ecosystems. His contribution was a set of international guidelines for the use of isotopes for investigating carbon storage in the soil as a basis for mitigating climate change.  The book was a major contribution to Kyoto-era science and reaffirmed the New Zealand scientist’s stature as an international expert in this field. In 2009 he wrote a further significant set of guidelines for the FAO/IAEA relating to the use of phosphorus isotopes in soil-plant and environmental research.