On Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in the premises of the Star Hotel, a workshop was held to validate thematic studies in the field of ABS. This workshop was organized as part of the project “Ratification and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use in COMIFAC space countries” project under the funding of UNEP.

Through his speech, he noted that Burundi has already undertaken several initiatives for its implementation.

Indeed, he continued, in January 2016, awareness-raising activities on the Nagoya Protocol were organized for various target groups in order to improve their level of understanding of the challenges of the Nagoya Protocol. After these awareness-raising activities, training by a UNEP Expert on access and benefit-sharing related to genetic resources took place for several stakeholders in order to strengthen national capacities in this area. After this training, a body of Resource Persons was set up to take stock of genetic resources in Burundi and a legal, political and institutional framework in relation to genetic resources. Before finishing his speech, he wanted to invite participants to thoroughly analyze the two thematic study documents proposed for validation and provide solid contributions.

Afterwards, the participants followed the first presentation made by the APA National Focal Point, Mr. NZIGIDAHERA Benoît, on the status of access and sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources under the Nagoya Protocol in Burundi under the Nagoya Protocol. ' In his presentation, he developed the issues relating to the state of play of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, the state of access and sharing in Burundi and the Constraints and opportunities to the application of ABS procedures.

 

The second presentation was made by the legal advisor at OBPE, Mr. NINDORERA Damien. This presentation focused on the analysis of the political, legal and institutional framework in Burundi in relation to access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits (ABS) arising from their use. The content of the presentation reflects the results of the analysis of national and international legal texts and strategy documents relevant to the APA issue.

After analyzing these national legal documents and texts, the presenter identified legal, political and institutional constraints and made proposals for improving the legal, political and institutional framework relating to ABS.

These presentations were followed by a moment of exchange and enrichment on the presentations.

 

 

After these discussions, participants organized themselves into working groups to analyze the content and form of thematic ABS study documents. The presentation of this work took place in plenary session.

At the end of this workshop, the following recommendations were formulated:

• It was recommended that the OBPE set up mechanisms to monitor the quality and quantity of genetic resources collected by permit holders (State of play document);
• The participants recommended the establishment of a framework for monitoring the good proposals made during the workshop (Policy, legal and institutional framework analysis document);
• It was recommended to include a framework for collaboration at the ASARECA level with other institutions involved in the management of genetic resources;
• Taking into account the relevance of the document, it was recommended to review the form of the document (Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework Analysis Document);
• Participants also recommended that action be taken to revise the traditional medicine decree and strategy to take into account APA concerns.

After the related observations and considerations, the participants validated the two thematic study documents with the integration of certain amendments.