Government has revealed that going forward, those who intend to access biological and genetic resources and or associated traditional knowledge must apply for an access permit and follow all procedures related to compliance.
Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta last week expressed that Namibia has come a long way in her efforts to develop and enact laws to regulate the access to biological, genetic resources, and associated traditional knowledge and to enforce the sharing of benefits derived from their utilisation.
“Many of our resources, more specifically indigenous plant products continue to be utilised for cosmetic or pharmaceutical purposes, without proper benefit sharing arrangements. Devil’s claw for example, which has proven medicinal properties, is also important to the national economy, as between N$20 million and N$30 million worth of it has been exported to countries like Germany and France annually over the past years. Over the years, these resources provided a supplementary income to vulnerable rural communities with limited agricultural harvests or livestock to fall back on. In addition, for that reasons, we need to protect their rights,” Shifeta said adding that his ministry, through the ABS Office is ready to assist researchers, traders, exporters, investors’, communities, with the relevant information that will facilitate access and use of our resource.
ABS stands for Access and Benefit Sharing of genetic and biological resources.
The Access to Biological and Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge Act, 2017 (Act No. 2 of 2017) was passed in Parliament and in November 2021 it was operationalized with its regulations.
The Act intends to regulate access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge; protect the rights of communities over genetic resources and its associated traditional knowledge and technologies; and to ensure administrative structures are in place to enforce such principles.
“Our Ministry is working on opportunities to further streamline and harmonise the ABS measurements with other national processes, including bio trade and research, for the purposes of value-addition and growth at home strategies intended for industrialisation,” Shifeta further said.
The ABS office is putting in place mechanisms, which include guidelines and other materials to help all stakeholders to know how to manage the procedures for access, including negotiating fair and equitable benefits with the right holders; expert advisory committees represented by all relevant ministries; a benefit sharing fund for capacity development and sustainable utilization projects in support of communities; a community/stakeholder support desk; an updated clearing house mechanism to track the use of our resources in and outside the country and the development of an online application system.
“The development of these mechanisms is therefore a big milestone for purposes of ensuring that the use of our genetic resources is for national socio-economic development, poverty eradication and prosperity for all,” Shifeta added.
He went to say that to be successful, a collaborative and supportive effort from all stakeholders is required.
“The industry; researcher and academic institutions; offices, ministries and agencies; communities; traditional authorities, etc., each one playing their role, availing and bring to the table information, skills, technologies, financial and human resources, infrastructures and alike towards the development of national platforms for local value addition and research and development.
“We need to recognise that meaningful and realistic benefits can only be realised through collaboration to ensure that the owners of the resources are aware of the potential value of the genetic resource so that benefits 6 realised through sustainable and controlled management of the resources,” said Shifeta.
The minister called upon all stakeholders to work with the ABS Office in the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism in creating awareness to facilitate compliance to the law and implementation of mechanisms.
“Implementation of this legislation will undoubtedly provide learning experiences as well as identify any gaps that we may not have foreseen during the development of the ABS legislation. The ABS Office, in consultation with the stakeholders continue to review and update the mechanisms to make it relevant to the prevailing conditions, if and where appropriate as we assess our implementation. The Ministry is concerned about effective implementation, and remains optimistic with the administering of the legal framework and our overall mandate, which is to ensure adequate implementation and compliance to this legislation.
“Our resources remain below the level of much needed human capacity and financial commitment to ensure implementation and compliance of the ABS legal framework, but we remain steadfast. It is equally imperative that we need to encourage all stakeholders to sustainably utilise biodiversity and equitably share its benefits. This is indeed enshrined as a requirement in the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, in as much as all resources belong to the State,” Shifeta concluded.