Overview
Namibia, which operates one of Africa’s strongest provider-country ABS regimes under its 2017 Access to Biological and Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge Act, is a leading negotiator for the African Group on ABS and DSI. The African Group has called for a legally binding benefit-sharing system aligned with Article 10 of the Nagoya Protocol, a 1% levy on the retail value of DSI-derived products, and a CBD-hosted DSI database with public availability based on prior informed consent. At SBI-7, speaking for the African Group, Namibia accepted Brazil’s amended text on the Fund’s MoU and asked that it not be reopened, stressing that the Fund’s integrity must be defended and that its rules must be written by Parties. At SBI-6 it also proposed a transparent, Party-led process for identifying specialised international ABS instruments.
Goals
- Defend the Fund’s integrity, with its rules set by Parties rather than by donors or the trust fund administrator
- Move benefit-sharing from DSI towards a binding system consistent with national ABS laws and Article 10 of the Nagoya Protocol
- Secure transparent, Party-led processes, including for identifying specialised ABS instruments