8th Pan-African ABS Workshop, 10-14 March 2014, Cotonou, Benin

Natural Justice’s Gino Cocchiaro and Josh Ogada are attending the Pan-African ABS Workshop, being held from the 10-14 March 2014, in Cotonou, Benin. Organized by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative and now in its 8th iteration, the workshop is being hosted by the Ministère de l'Environnement Chargé de la gestion des changements climatiques, du reboisement et de la protection des ressources naturelles et forestière.

The meeting brings together a range of stakeholders and interested parties including ABS National Focal Points, representatives of competent national authorities for ABS, representatives of relevant regional and international (research) institutions, NGOs, indigenous and local communities, as well as representatives of the private sector involved in bio-trade and bio-prospecting. Natural Justice is a key partner to the Initiative, and this workshop provides a unique opportunity to review and strengthen the partnership, as well as forge stronger linkages with other stakeholders in the area of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).

Second Intergovernmental Committee on the Nagoya Protocol

Kabir Bavikatte of Natural Justice participated in the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Nagoya Protocol (ICNP 2) in Delhi from July 2-6, 2012. Kabir participated at the ICNP 2 in his capacity as the legal advisor to the African Group of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The key issues that were negotiated at the ICNP 2 dealt with cooperative procedures and institutional mechanisms to promote compliance with the Nagoya Protocol, the global multilateral benefit sharing mechanism, the access and benefit sharing (ABS) clearing house, financial mechanism and resource mobilization. 

At the ICNP 2, Natural Justice and the Berne Declaration also organized a side event that screened the film ‘Rooibos Robbery’ which deals with Nestle's biopiracy of South African genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and can be viewed here. The side event included a presentation by Morten Tvedt of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute on the Norwegian law on ABS as one of the first user country measures and inputs from Muleso Kharika, Director of Resource Use at the South African Department of Environmental Affairs. Copies of the film were also distributed amongst the participants of ICNP 2.