Gov’t Convenes 1st National Forum On ABS Delivery

The Ministry of Environment Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED) has reviewed the first discussion on the principle of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) through the Echinops giganteus project in Magha-Bamumbu, Lebialem Division.

By Bertrand Shancho Ndimuh

MINEPDED reviewed the ABS- Echinops giganteus project in collaboration with the ABS National Focal Point team, the conservation NGO, the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF), the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and local stakeholders.

This was during a Roundtable Conference that took place November 22, 2013, at the Chamber of Agriculture in Yaounde.

The conference brought together the representative of MINEPDED, the ABS National Focal Point, Palouma Joel, the CEO/President of ERuDeF, Louis Nkembi, Echinops Project Coordinator Manuella Huque, members of GIZ, M. Suhel Al-Janabi, Barbara Lassen and Peter Schauerte, the Mayor of Wabane Subdivision and traditional authorities including Fon Lekunze of Bamumbu and the Chief of Magha-Bamumbu, Nembo Abraham, amongst others.

In his opening remarks, the MINEPDED representative said the Echinops giganteus project has moved from the identification of the resource to research and development by a French enterprise.

The representative said the Cameroon government in August 2012 adopted its National Strategy on ABS and in December 2012, officially launched awareness campaigns and capacity building seminars for ABS.

The ABS National Focal Point, Palouma, expressed total satisfaction with the progress of the pilot project on the ABS principle, the Echinops giganteus. 

He said the Cameroon government is the first in the whole of Central Africa to have ratified “this important legal instrument of international concern.”

Meanwhile, Suhel Al-Janabi, in a presentation on the cosmetic and perfumery sector of ABS Echinops giganteus project said the process of resource identification and use is usually very long and requires a lot of patient.

According to him, the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) and Mutual Agreed Term (MAT) documents are always signed at the beginning of research and development but given that the Echinops project is the pilot phase of the ABS principle in Cameroon, only the pre-PIC document has been signed between the owners of the resource, the managing organisation, ERuDeF, the mediator and the user of the resource in France.

Suhel Al-Janabi said the document is not yet officially recognised by the government.

Echinops project Coordinator, Huque, reviewed the project since the official launch of the pilot phase, December 1, 2012, thanking all stakeholders for their collaboration.

The climax of the roundtable conference was the review of the draft convention of the ABS-Echinops agreement for the research/development phase for the access and use of echinops.

The aim was to discuss the access to the plant Echinops giganteus between the French enterprise, the government and the representatives of the local communities of Magha-Bamumbu.

A number of amendments were made on the draft most especially regarding the role of different stakeholders. The document was then to be handed over to legal experts for final review and adoption before the signing between the Cameroon Government and the French enterprise.

At the end of the roundtable conference, Fon Lekunze Nembo-Ngwe III just like the Chief of Magha-Bamumbu and the Mayor of Wabane, was elated to have been the host of the first project on the ABS principle.

“It is a clear sign of developmental activities coming to our area,” he said.

ERuDeF CEO/President, on his part, said it was a great honour that his organisation is pioneering the first project on the ABS focused on the Echinops giganteus plant.

He said the project will greatly contribute toward the sustainable management of the Mount Bamboutus landscape, which falls within ERuDeF’s goal of conserving the environment and restoring degraded fragile ecosystems.