Context
Many natural resources from developing countries and emerging economies have the potential to be used sustainably by the private sector and research institutions. Genetic resources from animals, plants and microorganisms harbour particularly significant market potential. However, how such resources are accessed and utilised for commercial and non-commercial purposes is still largely unregulated in most of these countries.
The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) sets the internationally binding framework.
Objective
Actors relevant to ABS in Africa, the Caribbean and in the Pacific (governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, public research institutions, the private sector and NGOs) as well as international organisations are using the contributions made by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative to operationalise ABS in general and the Nagoya Protocol in general.
Approach
Already since 2006 the multi-donor ABS Capacity Development Initiative is conducting capacity development in order to facilitate ratification and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol – first as part of the sectorial project "Implementing the Biodiversity Convention" and since 2015 as a project on its own.
Since the Nagoya Protocol entered into force in 2014, the ABS Initiative’s focus is on: (1) developing and revising regulatory ABS frameworks, (2) supporting the development of ABS compliant value chains with the involvement of relevant actors, (3) integrating indigenous peoples and local communities into the respective processes.
Actors in partner countries are capacitated to conceptualize and implement ABS related legal and administrative provisions, integrating relevant civil society organizations in these processes.
The ABS Initiative supports the development of the legal and administrative framework for the Nagoya Protocol at a national level and helps actors to establish ABS compliant value chains that involve all relevant stakeholders.
Providers and users of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge will be able to conclude contracts on access and benefit-sharing.
International donors and organizations are included in the capacity development processes in order to scale up the ABS Initiative approach.
The Initiative is currently focusing its activities on selected countries in Africa. Experiences, lessons learned and results obtained from this work will be passed on to other countries in Africa as well as in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The Initiative is also working with regional organisations to support the development of regional guidance for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol.
Results
With support from the ABS Initiative, the African Group ensured that its interests were reflected in the Nagoya Protocol. Preparatory meetings, government-level events and technical training sessions have enabled the representatives of the African Group to play an effective, ongoing role in global negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol.
Sub-regional strategic and practical guidance support the national implementation of ABS:The African Union (AU) and the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) have devised guidelines and strategies for access and benefit-sharing with the support of the ABS Initiative. This support has helped some countries to develop or update their national ABS laws and regulations.
Following negotiations assisted by the ABS Initiative, ABS agreements have been signed between users and providers of genetic resources. For instance, private companies with an international profile have entered into ABS agreements in both Cameroon and South Africa.
The ABS Initiative advised the development of draft Nagoya Protocol compliant ABS policies and regulations in countries such as Benin, Cameroon, Madagascar, Micronesia, Morocco, Namibia, Palau, Samoa, Senegal and Vanuatu.