ABS and Business Dialogue

Kabir Bavikatte and Johanna von Braun were a part of an ABS and Business Dialogue from the 7th to the 9th of October 2009. The dialogue was supported by the ABS Initiative, the Union for Ethical Biotrade and Phytotrade Africa. The dialogue was conducted under Chatham House rules and was a conversation between African ABS negotiators and representatives of business highlighting their respective concerns. The dialogue ended on a high note with both African government representatives and representatives of business concluding that they had more in common than what set them apart.

Particpating in Regional and International Meetings, Part Two

Kabir Bavikatte participated in the African core ABS negotiators meeting from the 12th to 14th of October 2009 in Windhoek, Namibia. The meeting brought together key African negotiators at the Working Group on ABS to discuss the operational text for the potential International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing on traditional knowledge, nature and capacity building. Kabir attended the meeting in his capacity as the legal advisor to the African Group and as the leader of the drafting team that developed the operational text.

Kabir Bavikatte attended the 12th regular session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture at the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome from the 19th to the 23rd of October 2009. Kabir attended the meeting in his capacity as the legal advisor to the LIFE network that represents the interests of livestock keepers and pastoralists in the FAO processes. Kabir on behalf of the LIFE network made a submission to members of the Commission on the importance of engaging with Article 8j of the CBD and therefore livestock keepers rights in their discussions regarding ABS and genetic resources for food and agriculture. The LIFE network also had a side event on the LIFE method of breed documentation and biocultural protocols. At the side event Kabir presented on the importance of biocultural protocols in securing livestock keepers rights. A similar event was held at the International Fund for Agriculture and Development the following day.

Participating in Regional and International Meetings, Part One

Kabir Bavikatte participated as a resource person for at the Pan African Indigenous and Local Community Workshop in Nairobi from the 14th to the 17th of September 2009. The goal of the workshop was capacity development of African indigenous and local community representatives. Kabir presented to the community representatives the draft of the African operational text on traditional knowledge and capacity building that would be negotiated in Montreal in November at the 8th meeting of the Working Group on ABS. The community representatives made a number of comments and recommendations to the operational text which was incorporated in the draft by Kabir as the leader of the drafting team. Kabir also made presentations on the importance and development of biocultural protocols and the traditional knowledge commons both of which were received very enthusiastically by the African community representatives at the workshop.

Kabir Bavikatte also participated as a resource person in the ABS Capacity Development Workshop for Eastern and Southern Africa held in Addis Ababa from the 28th of September to the 2nd of October 2009. Kabir presented on the challenges of documenting traditional knowledge and the concerns of indigenous and local communities regarding the pre, during and post documentation processes. The Addis workshop was attended by multiple stakeholders including representatives of government who engaged in a lively discussion on the challenges of documenting traditional knowledge.

Working in Kenya, 6-12th September 2009

Kabir Bavikatte and Harry Jonas along with the LIFE network Africa travelled to Samburu in Northern Kenya to work with the Samburu community to develop a biocultural protocol on the indigenous livestock breeds of the Samburu. The process of developing the protocol was challenging especially because the biggest concern of the Samburu communities in the region had to do with a debilitating drought that was killing off their livestock and uncontrolled cattle raiding. A number of meetings were held with the representatives of the Samburu community including women and elders. The protocol that was developed is currently being workshopped by members of the LIFE network Africa within the Samburu community generating the necessary support for it.

Kabir Bavikatte and Harry Jonas were also accompanied by a film crew 'Moving Images' from India which was working with the LIFE network to make a film on biocultural protocols for livestock keepers and pastoralists. The film crew had previously collected footage of the Raika in Rajasthan who had developed the first biocultural protocol and were now collecting footage of the development of the Samburu protocol. The film has since been completed and is the first film on biocultural protocols. Natural Justice is highly appreciative of the excellent efforts of film makers Sanjay Barnela and Samreen Farooqui of Moving Images in making this film.

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.