A validation workshop on the ABS procedure manual, and the communications strategy and action plan on the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on ABS was held from 8 to 10 October 2019 in Brazzaville (Congo).

The three-day workshop aimed to provide the government with a comprehensive regulatory framework and a communication tool on the Nagoya Protocol on ABS. It was conducted in two phases, plenary sessions and working groups.  During the plenary session, the participants were treated to presentations on:

The Nagoya Protocol (key concepts and principles of access and benefit sharing (ABS), status of implementation of the process in the Congo, the need for an ABS regulatory framework in the Congo), presented by Mr. Madzou MOUKILI; experience of the Republic of the Congo in the utilization of plant genetic resources, presented by Professor Jean de Dieu NZILA; the ABS Procedure Manual, presented by Mr. Rufin Antoine OKO and lastly a presentation on the communications strategy and plan by Mr. Alexis Vincent de Paul BOYOKO.

On the sidelines of the deliberations, the participants watched a movie on the basic principles of the Nagoya protocol, namely: the concept of the user, the concept of the genetic resource supplier, the nature of ABS-related contracts negotiated (CPCC and CCCA), the concept of exchange centers and respective stakeholders involved in the ABS process.

Following the deliberations, and after fruitful discussions on the presentations on the procedure manual and the communications strategy and plan and breaking out into working groups, the participants came up with the following recommendations:

To the Consultant on the “Procedure Manual”:

• Highlight genetic resource access procedures;
• Streamline the document by scrapping general information on ABS.

To the Consultant on the “Communications strategy and plan”:

• Outline the expected impacts of the communications strategy;
• Flesh out the communications plan with content from the sub-regional communications strategy matrix.

To the focal point:

• Set up a technical group to improve the documents, especially the “Procedure Manual”;
• Get other stakeholders from the rural areas of the country to participate in ABS meetings;
• Hold other workshops outside of Brazzaville in order to get holders of acquired traditional knowledge (CTA) more engaged.

Both the opening and closing ceremonies were chaired by Mr. Jean Frédérique Vidalie ANDEA, Attaché at the Ministry of Sustainable Development on behalf of Ms. Arlette Soudan-Nonault, Minister of Tourism and Environment.

The validation workshop on the ABS procedure manual and the communications strategy and plan on the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on ABS was organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment in collaboration with the COMIFAC Executive Secretariat and the financial support of the GIZ through the GIZ Regional Project to Support COMIFAC

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