BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS - Portal do Professor

PART I / CHAPTER 3
5. The Nairobi Pan African ILC Preparatory
Meeting on ABS and TK
The Pan African ILC meeting on ABS and TK was held in Nairobi
in September 2009, with over 50 ILC representatives from
across Africa. The meeting was organized by the Indigenous
Information Network and the ABS Capacity Development
Initiative for Africa. The ILC representatives concluded their
4-day meeting with two sets of recommendations: first,
to the negotiators of the African Group on their negotiation
on the International Regime on ABS; and second, to African
States on the practicality of community (bio-cultural) protocols
as a tool to ensure FPIC.
Specifically, in relation to the IRABS, the ILC
representatives requested the following:
• The African negotiators should support the inclusion
of BCPs as an essential component of the IRABS;
6. Conclusion
Whilst the theory and practice of ABS-related BCPs are still
being developed, they are increasingly being recognized at
the international level. The African Group’s submission,
supported by ILCs, NGOs and a number of Parties, is a significant
attempt to ensure that any future ABS agreements are
contingent on community protocols. Specific reference to
community protocols would provide communities with the
right to insist on being able to engage in types of bio-cultural
and legal empowerment processes described in Chapter 2,
and to approach any request for access to their TK or GR only
after having informed and prepared themselves.
COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS IN THE NEGOTIATIONS OF
THE INTERNATIONAL REGIME ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING
• The IRABS should require States to ensure that access to
community GR and TK is done in accordance with their BCPs;
• The IRABS should require States to ensure that the
development, management and control of BCPs is
community-led; and
• The IRABS should establish a financial mechanism that
includes in its objectives support for BCP awareness-raising
and capacity-building.
The outcomes of the Vilm workshop and the recommendations
of the Nairobi meeting and the Group of Technical and Legal
experts on TK will inform the negotiations at the WGABS8.
The respective participants’ strong support for community
protocols underscores the growing recognition that
communities require means by which to engage
with the IRABS.
The further support given to community protocols by the
Group of Technical and Legal Experts on TK, the Vilm workshop
and African ILC meeting add further weight to the instrument’s
inclusion in the incumbent IRABS. For communities, the
negotiations are at a significant turning point. ILCs require
Parties’ support of community-based mechanisms such as biocultural
community protocols to ensure that they are protected
against any misappropriation of their TK and will benefit
from their knowledge, innovations and practices that
promote the conservation and sustainable use
of biodiversity.
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