Internships: Taking the plunge!

The season for interns is not yet finished at Natural Justice. 2009 has seen the introduction of an internship programme aimed at providing students or recent graduates with an interest in environmental law, community development or similar fields the opportunity to work within the organisation. This year has seen interns working on research papers and concept notes, and assisting Natural Justice within various projects.

Feedback has been positive so far: The interns, coming from varied backgrounds and countries ranging from the United States and Canada to Pakistan, have all enjoyed both the work experience and the opportunities they have had to explore South Africa during down-time. They have sky-dived, bungee-jumped and swum with the sharks in False Bay. They have plunged into the project work with equal zeal, and all hope to return soon.

Bio-cultural Community Protocols in India

Kabir Bavikatte and Harry Jonas worked with two communities in India to develop bio-cultural community protocols in mid August. We worked with traditional healers in the Valli region of Rajasthan and with the Malayali Tribes in Tamil Nadu and their support organizations (Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti and the Foundation for Revitalization of Local HealthTraditions) to set out the natural resource base and bio-cultural foundations of their traditional knowledge. We developed protocols for each group to assist them and their support organizations to securetheir rights to access forest resources and to ensure that any use of their knowledge is in accordance with their bio-cultural values. The protocols are available on the website.

K2C Visit Proves Productive

Johanna von Braun and Harry Jonas attended a meeting at Vukuzenzele on the 23rd of July at which the Bushbuck Ridge Traditional Health Practitioners elected an executive committee. Subsequently, they convened a workshop on the 27th and 28th in partnership with the Biosphere Committee for the executive members plus ten others from the group to develop a biocultural community protocol.
They also visited a group of traditional health practitioners from the Venda community based on the North western boundary of the Kruger Park to discuss their progress towards establishing a medicinal plants conservation and development area (MPCDA)Natural Justice has been asked by the community to work with them towards a GEF grant to fund the MPCDA and to establish a project to grow African vegetables. The visit took place in July 2009, and forms part of ongoing work in this area.

Namibian San Council and Nama Traditional Leaders reach important agreement

On the 15 July 2009 the Namibian San Council reached an important agreement with the Nama Traditional Leaders. The agreement is intended to facilitate negotiations for benefit sharing. It is in part an acknowledgement of shared Traditional Knowledge and resources. This agreement will also help in continued negotiations, particularly in benefit sharing agreements surrounding the Hoodia gordonii.

Community Protocols Presentation, K2C Meeting

Harry Jonas and Johanna von Braun presented on community protocols as an approach to securing communities’ rights in ABS agreements at a meeting hosted by the South African Department of Science and Technology on 6-7 July 2009. The meeting also addressed the Farmer to Pharma initiative and constitutes the formation of a bioprospecting platform for South Africa.
Harry Jonas and Johanna von Braun attended a meeting of over 40 traditional healers at the Vukuzenzele medicinal plants nurseries on the 9th of July in Mpumalanga as part of the work Natural Justice is undertaking the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve. Natural Justice facilitated information sharing on accessing conservation areas to harvest medicinal plants, protecting TK and becoming registered with the government.

International Vilm Expert Workshop on Matters related to Traditional Knowledge associated with Genetic resources and the ABS Regime

Kabir Bavikatte on behalf of Natural Justice attended the Expert Workshop on Traditional Knowledge the Isle of Vilm, Germany on 6-10 July 2009. The goal of the expert meeting was to exchange information and discuss practical implications of different views and drafted text options along the parameter of the Annex (UNEP/CBD/ COP/DEC/IX/12 Annex 1) in order to support the rights of indigenous and local communities in the negotiations of the International ABS Regime. In this sense the aim of the workshop was not to reach a consensus on the individual points but rather to have an exchange of technical options and ideas. The Workshop was well attended by leaders of indigenous communities and representatives of the EU and resulted in some useful inputs into the further negotiations of the International ABS Regimes. In particular, the Workshop facilitated the development of operational text on the traditional knowledge which would aid both the indigenous communities and the EU in their preparation for the 8th meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on ABS (ABS 8), due to be held in Montreal, Canada on 9-15 November 2009.

GLT on Traditional Knowledge

Kabir Bavikatte attended the meeting of the Group of Technical and Legal Experts on Traditional Knowledge associated with Genetic Resources, in Hyderabad, India, on 16-19 June. To see Natural Justice’s submission to the GTL, follow this link: http://www.cbd.int/abs/absgtle-03/submission/ The final report contains a recommendation to include community protocols as a means to protect and promote communities’ TK and will be submitted to the 8th meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing. For more information on the Working Group on ABS see www.cbd.int

Vukuzenzele Meeting

Harry Jonas met with traditional healers at the Vukuzenzele medicinal plants nursery, in the K2C on 18 June, in partnership with the Biosphere Committee and the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency. At the meeting, the traditional healers raised a series of concerns, including the continued illegal collection and overharvesting of medicinal plants in the K2C that is endangering the supply of wild medicinal plants, the continued use of their traditional knowledge without their consent or acknowledgement and the fact that they remain unregistered healers, thus operating outside a regulatory framework. The next workshop is scheduled for the 9 July and will address these specific issues in more detail. See the website for the project overview.

Raika Biocultural Protocol

Kabir Bavikatte and Harry Jonas worked with LPPS (www.lpps.org) to develop a biocultural protocol to address the Raika’s exclusion from the Kumbhalgarh forest that is threatening their livelihoods, culture and traditional knowledge. They worked over the week of 7-14 June with LPPs staff in Sadri, Rajasthan, at a series of community meetings as well as in drafting sessions with members of the LIFE Network and Drynet. The protocol is available on the website.

May K2C visit

On 29-30 May, Kabir Bavikatte and Harry Jonas met the K2C Biosphere (Kruger 2 Canyons)Committee and Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency to jointly review a survey on a number of resources, including Marula and medicinal plants. As part of the visit, they visited the Vukuzenzele community medicinal plants centre (to follow) to discuss the challenges the traditional healers face and to look at how the (South African) Bioprospecting and Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations can assist them to protect their traditional knowledge and generate livelihoods. This visit was part of an ongoing effort to establish a legal protocol designed to both empower and protect communities within the K2C Biosphere Reserve, based on the expressed interests and established cultural framework of those living within the reserve.