Pirates in Montreal?

At the resumed 9th meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (WGABS) in Montreal, Natural Justice and the Berne Declaration hosted a side event on the Nestle-Rooibos and Honeybush biopiracy case in South Africa. This case exemplifies the key problems potentially arising within ABS, including commodities being used as genetic resources for bioprospecting by companies contrary to the laws of the country of origin. The side event, hosted by Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) and Francois Meienberg (the Berne Declaration) and moderated by Geoff Burton (United Nations University), was attended by about 60 people and led to a rich discussion of the implications of this case for the negotiations of the Working Group on ABS. Throughout the meeting, daily coverage by IISD Reporting Services can be read here and CBD Alliance (civil society) coverage can be found here.