In a tailor-made manner to the African needs, the ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa continues to implement the CBD Action Plan on Capacity-Building for Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing, which COP 7 adopted in 2004. But this is not only seen as a procedure serving CBD obligations, much more it is - in the long rung - considered as an iterative process that supports the vision of ABS as a powerful instrument to contribute to poverty reduction in Africa.

Objectives of the initiative are to

• increase awareness of African policy makers and legislators on ABS matters, especially their potential for poverty alleviation and their cross sectoral nature, in particular the work under the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR-FA), the work related to intellectual property rights and on traditional knowledge under WIPO and WTO.
• foster dialogue and meaningful participation of all relevant stakeholders at all stages of the negotiation, development and implementation of ABS regulations - at the international, national and local level.
• improve regional cooperation on ABS issues among African countries
• support the development of equitable partnerships with private sector

By achieving these objectives, the initiative impacts in the long-term positively on food security, good governance and the MDGs (goals 1, 3, 7 and 8) via the fair and equitable sharing of benefits generated from the use of biological/genetic resources. The involvement of the private sector is considered as a key success factor for effective and adjusted capacity development as ABS finally aims at the fair commercial valorisation of genetic resources based on a mutual understanding of interests between "providers" and "users". For this reason open exchange and confidence building with representatives from food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical enterprises was of major importance so far  - serving as a sound basis for intensified partnerships with the private sector in the new phase of the initiative.

In the short-term the initiative

• strengthens the knowledge of all relevant stakeholders on ABS relevant matters by offering different platforms for experience exchange (workshops, peer-to peer learning exchange, CHM) and by providing a facility for the documentation of case studies, legislation/regulations, experience reports etc., and
• builds and strengthens a network of African ABS experts drawn from all relevant stakeholder groups, including national science, indigenous and local communities, the private sector, policy makers and legislators.