Workshop Review

The Workshop “Business, Biodiversity and Benefit-Sharing: Exploring Best Practices for Biotrade and ABS” was convened in cooperation with the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and PhytoTrade Africa.

48 stakeholders from 11 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa participated in this workshop. The focus of the workshop was the private sector with representatives from Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom and Germany. The other participants included research, governmental, and non-governmental institutions, as well as UN-institutions dealing with either/or genetic and biological resources.

On the first day, participants were warmly welcomed by the GTZ workshop convenors and were addressed by the German Ambassador. In the course of the day the stage was set for discussing issues relating to commercial research, biodiversity and benefit-sharing. Participants were divided into six groups and each of these groups discussed three issues. They were:

• The legal framework for ABS (based on the CBD and the Bonn Guidelines) with a special focus on the Certificate of Origin,
• The framework for biotrade (based on the UNCTAD research) and
• The perspectives of the private sector on both ABS and biotrade.

The second day was dedicated to addressing the existing legislations and regulations in South Africa, Namibia and Ethiopia showcasing different examples of biotrade and/or ABS. ABS legislation and regulation and aspects relating to ABS agreements around traditional knowledge and genetic resources were presented and discussed. The South African Biodiversity Institute and the Medical Research Council presented on SA law and use of medicinal plants; the Vernonia case between the Ethiopian Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and Vernique Biotech (UK) was presented by representatives from both these sectors; and the agreement relating to indigenous natural products between the Nambian Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Centre for Research Information Action in Africa was presented by both the ministry and the research institute.

The final day began with three working groups reporting back on their insights of the previous day’s presentations. These insights contributed towards demystifying ABS requirements. Gaps in the ABS system were highlighted and solutions were proposed. The gaps were classified under three main heads. These heads were:

• ABS International Regime
• Biotrade
• National Implementation

The final evaluation revealed that the participants were satisfied with the overall group dynamic and all workshop elements such as preparation, moderation, organisation, methodology and the fieldtrip. The majority improved their knowledge on the distinctions between ABS and biotrade distinctions and the grey areas therein. Most participants felt that the workshop was useful for their work. A mutual understanding between different stakeholders from private sector, governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as research institutions was established.