Can Montreal help communities: Here’s a look at access and benefit-sharing around the world
Access and benefit sharing is one of the three objectives of the United Nations Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) and is set to be discussed at its upcoming 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15). But on the ground there is very little evidence that benefits arising from the use of biodiversity have been shared equitably with the communities that have protected it for centuries.
Down To Earth (DTE) looked at some agreements on benefit-sharing across countries to understand the situation on the ground. These include agreements that are not part of Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House.
The findings do not inspire confidence; communities managing and providing biodiversity resources do not get benefits, while users evade restrictions, rules and cost of access.
Latin America
Mexico, a founding member of CBD, has issued only eight internationally recognised certificates of compliance (IRCC). Biopiracy has led to mistrust among the community in terms of sharing knowledge and hence,.there is a lack of progress on developing agreements, Alejandro Callejas, director of natural resources for its Guanajuato state, told DTE.
A poignant example of biopiracy is that of axolotl, a Mexican salamander that can regrow its limbs and organs and thus may hold clues for human tissue regeneration.
The axolotl is endangered and found only in Xochimilco Lake Complex in southern Mexico City. However, the animal is increasingly being bred outside of the region for research or to be kept as a pet, said Callejas.
“The research involving axolotl is associated with our cosmogony and has produced billions of dollars in research revenues worldwide. We got nothing out of it,” he added.
Access and benefit-sharing agreements are in infancy in several Latin American countries too. Biodiverse countries like Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay are not parties to the Nagoya Protocol, while in others like Brazil, national politics undermine environmental policies.
“CBD leaves many matters to the interpretation of each country’s laws. Some allow for the communities to receive benefits directly, while others consider that the state should manage them. In countries such as Brazil, negotiations are directly with the government,” said Yesenia Hernández, spokes-person for the International Forum of Indigenous People for Biodiversity.
Such loopholes undermine CBD and leave scope for exploitation of communities and resources.
Asia
Communities rarely see the benefits, according to an assessment by DTE. Take the case of kurinji honey collected from the Shola forest region in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu. This honey is considered rare as it is collected from bees that feed on Strobilanthes kunthiana, a shrub with purplish blue flower that blooms once in 12 years.
Peliyan tribal community, which collects the honey, and Hoopoe on a Hill, Kodaikanal-based non-profit that works with this community, entered into an agreement in 2019 with Jasmine Concrete Exports Pvt. Ltd, a Chennai-based exporter and Firmenich Grasse, a fragrance and flavour company in France to access the commercially sold honey to identify molecules that make it special.
Upfront payment was made for 1 kg of honey, with room for further agreements if products prepared with it are commercialised. So far, neither the community nor the non-profit have heard from the companies.
Africa
Political issues have also hampered benefit sharing from the use of genetic resources in Cameroon, Africa, which is seeing civil unrest. V Mane Fils, a French company specialising in cosmetics and flavourings, was in talks with Cameroon since 2014 for access to Mondia whitei, a tree climber.
The plant is used as a food flavouring agent and its roots to treat multiple diseases. The negotiations ended at the research phase due to the civil conflict.
Louis Nkembi, chief executive of Environment and Rural Development Foundation, a non-profit that mediated between the community and V Mane Fils, tells DTE that he is hopeful commercialisation of the product would begin. Meanwhile, over-exploitation threatens the plant’s existence.
Kenya has issued the most IRCCs in Africa. However, all its certificates are for non-commercial purposes. The country’s efforts to promote commercial deals appear to be hindered by inadequate awareness or knowledge on the terms of such agreements.
For example, French company V Mane Fils sought to purchase Mondia whitei from here as well. In 2018, the company entered into partnership with Kenya’s Kakamega Natural Forest Catchment Conservation Organi- sation (KANDCCO), a conservation group, for 10 tonnes of Mondia whitei per year.
The community established nurseries to meet the demand. In 2021, the group signed a deal for supply of 100 tonnes of the root per year. “We signed a prior informed consent (pic) agreement under Nagoya Protocol, but the company reneged on signing the other statutory pacts for material transfer,” KANFCCO secretary James Ligale told DTE.
Some countries, like Namibia, have taken steps outside of CBD to ensure that communities receive their share of benefits due to biodiversity use. Namibia, though party to both CBD and Nagoya Protocol, has not issued a single IRCC; rather, it introduced the Namibia Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) Programme in 1996, which is hailed as an example of linking conservation with poverty alleviation and job creation.
According to the government’s “State of Community Conservation in Namibia” re- port for 2020, community conservation under CBNRM contributed N $10,753 billion ($722.14 billion) to Namibia’s net national income and facilitated 3,870 jobs.
South Africa too has had some success in recent years. In July 2022, the rooibos industry paid 12.2 million rands (around $709,000) to organisations that represent the communities for sharing this biological resource and associated knowledge. Discussions are now underway to ascertain how the money would be used to benefit the communities.
Overall, success stories are few and far between.
Hartmut Meyer, team leader of the multi-donor ABS Capacity Development Initiative implemented by German development non-profit GIZ, says complete cases from the user entering a country to access the resource to the negotiation of agreements to the flow of benefits are still rare.
But the few successes are enough to prove that a system can be put in place, Meyer says.
This is the third of a four-part series on COP15 Montreal summit. It was first published in the Down To Earth print issue of 1-15 December, 2022