The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation is an international agreement, supplementary to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which was enacted in 2014. Its aim is to support the implementation of the third objective of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. South Africa became party to the CBD in 1995 and ratified the Nagoya Protocol in 2013.  

The wealth of biodiversity within a country is recognised as an opportunity to support national sustainable development goals. A well developed and functioning national legal, institutional and administrative ABS framework and other measures will enable fair and equitable sharing of benefits to support local livelihoods, as well as providing business and job creation opportunities.

The South African biotrade operates within a distinct legislative and regulatory framework. The National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) was established in 2004, followed by Biodiversity Access and Benefit Sharing (BABS) regulations in 2008. In 2016 Operation Phakisa Lab on Biodiversity proposed the creation of the BioPANZA network, and the National Biodiversity Economy Strategy (NBES) was developed.

ABioSA is helping to embed practical access and benefit-sharing (ABS) as a feature of sustainable biotrade that works for both communities and businesses while enhancing biodiversity protection and ensuring sustainable use of natural resources.

ABioSA encourages and supports compliance with ABS regulations. It helps communities and businesses to recognise ABS as an enabler of an equitable biotrade sector that protects biodiversity. ABioSA helps businesses to use ABS compliance to give them a competitive edge in the promotion and marketing of their products.

The DFFE and the ABioSA sister project BioInnovation Africa (BIA) developed a Decision Tree and supporting resources to help researchers and businesses to understand and comply with legal and regulatory requirements for the use of South Africa’s indigenous biological and genetic resources.

It should be recognised that a government of a country cannot develop and attain economic growth in isolation from certain inputs. It requires a network of societal actors and components. It requires knowledge, skills and training; infrastructure and technology as well as various forms of capital; including financial, social, technological and natural capital. Economic growth and stability occur when all of these factors are working optimally and cooperating as a network or system. The ability to problem solve and innovate play a major role in the productiveness, competitiveness and effectiveness of such a system to ensure economic and developmental progress. The ability for a developing country and/or sector to export is very important as it offers MSMEs many more markets for their goods. However, it requires confidence and trust within international markets for traceability, quality, safety, consistency, etc.