A Pan-African Access and Benefit Sharing Workshop is going on in Limbe. About one hundred participants drawn from within and without Africa are sharing experiences in the sixth Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Pan-African workshop currently going on in Hotel Seme Beach in Limbe. They are exchanging views on national and regional levels on issues relating to Nagoya ABS protocol. They are also examining how Africa can benefit from the tons of plants and animal species that leave the continent to other continents and whether these genetic resources are being taken out in line with the legislation in force.
While presiding at the five-day workshop on 30th January, the Minister of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, Pierre Hele, underscored the main objective of the Nagoya, Japan Protocol which is to ensure a just and equitable sharing of benefits resulting from the exploitation of biodiversity. The protocol also envisages the transfer of pertinent and appropriate technologies to be adequately funded, and ensuring conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development.