Overview
South Africa plays a bridging role in the DSI negotiations. It is a member of the Friends of the Cali Fund, spoke for the African Group at COP16, where a South African negotiator co-chaired the DSI contact group, and speaks for the Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMC). It supports COP-level governance of the Cali Fund and warned at SBI-7 that thresholds for contributing entities should not hollow out the mechanism. It wants Cali Fund certificates to be verifiable, meaningful and recognised by national ABS authorities, and non-monetary benefits to include technology, know-how and research results. During the Open-ended Working Group, South Africa supported deleting text on multiple payments and on the mechanism’s interaction with other benefit-sharing obligations, protecting the role of national ABS regimes such as its own Biodiversity Act and BABS Regulations.
Goals
- Keep the Cali Fund under the governance of the COP
- Set entity thresholds that do not hollow out the contributor base
- Make certificates verifiable and recognisable by national ABS authorities
- Secure non-monetary benefits, including technology, know-how and research results