CERA's four program platforms span the continuum of biotechnology and biosafety research through to development impact.
Platform 1: Improving systematic approaches to the environmental risk assessment of genetically modified plants.
Project Example: CERA has convened a tripartite working group of entomologists to 1) advance a white paper that clearly describes best practices for Tier I non-target arthropod testing as used in the environmental risk assessment of transgenic, insect resistant plants and 2) identify appropriate surrogate arthropods for Tier 1 testing relevant to aquatic environments.
Project Example: CERA has initiated a new project to develop an environmental risk assessment framework for genetically engineered plantation tree species.
Platform 2: Understanding of the receiving environment.
Project Example: CERA is working to develop a conceptual framework that will explore the questions of "if, when, and how" environmental risk assessment data collected in experimental field trials are applicable across representative agro-ecosystems. This is of particular importance to regulatory authorities seeking to support regional risk assessment approaches and to public sector product developers who cannot afford to meet unnecessary, duplicative data requirements.
Platform 3: Rationalizing environmental risk assessment in the context of limited releases to the 
environment.
Project Example: Regulatory approvals of genetically modified (GM) crops are not synchronized internationally, which means that a new GM crop that s approved for cultivation in one country may end up in commodity or seed shipments to another country where that GM crop has yet to be approved. Although product developers and others in the grain and seed trades actively work to avoid such situations, they can and do occur. When they do, it is usual for the government of the importing country to require an environmental risk assessment of the unapproved GM crop. However, the exposure scenario associated with such a situation of low-level presence is very different to that associated with a deliberate release of a GM crop for the purpose of cultivation and CERA is exploring if/how the risk assessment should be changed to account for this.
Platform 4: Capacity building with a focus on developing and/or participating in strategic, longer term programs that seek to support and strengthen the regulatory and scientific communities involved in the environmental risk assessment of agricultural biotechnologies.
Project example: At the request of the Biosafety Office of the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity, CERA is leading the development of a training module on the environmental risk assessment of living modified organisms. This module, to be used in regional training programs in 2010 and 2011,designed to assist Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in meeting their obligations under that international agreement.