By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
Around 50 participants from around Africa and Europe will converge on Windhoek to negotiate a practical international regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of genetic resources and knowledge.
In line with one of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), parties to the convention, Namibia included, should promote the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
The workshop, ‘Business, Biodiversity and Benefit Sharing: Exploring best practice for Biotrade and ABS’ will be held from June 18 to 20 in Windhoek, under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in cooperation with the Dutch German ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa and PytoTrade.
This is important to Namibia due to the availability of unique genetic resources and traditional knowledge that have the potential for pharmaceutical and industrial application, such as Hoodia and Devil’s Claw, silkworm, Marula fruit, Kalahari seed melon and the Ximenie plant, among others.
Sem Shikongo, Deputy Director of Environmental Affairs in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, said in a statement developing countries, including Namibia, stand to lose out on potential revenue from renewable plants, animals, fungal and microbial resources if these resources are exploited without sound benefit-sharing arrangements.
“Just as importantly, rural Namibian communities, individuals and institutions stand to lose considerably from uncontrolled exploitation of intellectual property rights related to these resources and/or forgo these benefits if they are not empowered to make use of them themselves,” he said.
So far, Shikongo noted, negotiations have been difficult with the nature, scope and elements of an international regime on access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits being the most contentious issues. This has led to some companies pulling out of natural products research and development out of fear of being labeled as “biopirates”.
Although this is the case, it remains that bioprospecting as well as the utilisation of biological and genetic resources is ongoing in many countries. Namibia has had requests to milk snake venom and screen soil flora from the desert, among others.
Without access to biological or genetic resources, no benefits can be generated by the private sector, which could be shared between the users and providers of such resources for the benefit of biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation.
Due to the regulatory uncertainty, Shikongo said, “some international initiatives with a main focus on biotrade are trying to provide guidance to the relevant stakeholders especially the private sector”.
The workshop will therefore focus on explaining the role and contribution of the private sector in the ABS and biotrade framework of the public private partnership, identify best practices for ABS and biotrade in Southern Africa and explore grey areas between ABS and biotrade, thereby contributing to the discussion on the scope of the international regime as well as national legislation.
The participants include representatives from the private sector involved in biotrade and bioprospecting, ABS National Focal Points, Competent National Authorities for ABS, negotiators in the last meeting of the ABS working group, relevant international institutions and NGOs from local, national and international level with experience in the implementation of projects or businesses initiatives.