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South Africa's Experience in Developing a Policy on Biodiversity Participation in Access and Benefit-Sharing Policy Case Study no 1 South Africa’s Experience in Developing a Policy on Biodiversity and Access to Genetic Resources Rachel Wynberg and Krystyna Swiderska February 2001 South African case study Participation in Access and Benefit-Sharing Policy Case Study no 1, February 2001 SOUTH AFRICA’S EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPING A POLICY ON BIODIVERSITY AND ACCESS TO GENETIC RESOURCES Rachel Wynberg1 and Krystyna Swiderska2 1 PO Box 69, St James, 7946 South Africa. Tel: +27 21 788 7677; Fax: +27 21 788 9169; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Biodiversity and Livelihoods Group, International Institute for Environment and Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD UK. Tel: +44 171 388 2117; Fax: +44 171 388 2826; e-mail: [email protected] 2 South African case study TITLES IN THIS SERIES No. 1 Wynberg R. and Swiderska K. (2001): South Africa’s Experience in Developing a Policy on Biodiversity and Access to Genetic Resources No. 2 Tobin B. and Swiderska K. (2001): Speaking in Tongues: Indigenous Participation in the Development of a sui generis regime to Protect Traditional Knowledge in Peru No. 3 Anuradha R.V., Taneja B. and Kothari A. (2001): Experiences with Biodiversity Policy Making and Community Registers in India No. 4 Swiderska K. , Daño E., Dubois O. (2001): Developing the Philippines’ Executive Order No. 247 on Access to Genetic Resources Series Overview: Swiderska K. (2001): Stakeholder Participation in Policy on Access to Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Benefit-Sharing: Case studies and Recommendations. Biodiversity and Livelihoods Issues No. 4 This publication Published by: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) 3, Endsleigh Street, London, WC1H 0DD, UK Available from: Earthprint Ltd Fax: +44 (0) 1483 748 844 Email: [email protected] Website: www.earthprint.com, or www.iied.org ISBN: 1 904035 94 9 Cover illustration: Christine Bass Note: The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of IIED. 3 South African case study TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ______________________________________________ 5 1. INTRODUCTION _____________________________________________ 6 1.1 Background _________________________________________________ 6 1.2 Purpose of this Project ________________________________________ 6 1.3 Why South Africa____________________________________________ 7 1.4 How will the Research be Used?__________________________________ 7 1.5 Structure of Report __________________________________________ 8 2. METHODOLOGY _____________________________________________ 8 3. SOUTH AFRICA’S BIODIVERSITY POLICY PROCESS__________________10 3.1 Historical Context to the Policy __________________________________10 3.2 The Impetus for a Biodiversity Policy _____________________________ 11 3.3 Description of the Process _____________________________________12 Initial Preparatory Phase (November 1995 – March 1996) ______________15 Intensive Consultation Phase (April – July 1996) _____________________15 Policy Drafting Phase (August 1996 – August 1997) ___________________16 3.4 Budget____________________________________________________17 3.5 Supporting Research__________________________________________19 4. ASSESSMENT OF THE PROCESS________________________________ 20 4.1 Introduction _______________________________________________ 20 4.2 Designing the Process _________________________________________21 Building Trust ______________________________________________21 Separating Political and Technical Components_______________________21 Expert-Driven Versus Process-Driven Approaches ___________________ 22 The Importance of a Strong Political Mandate______________________ 23 4.3 Implementing the Process _____________________________________ 23 How were Stakeholders Brought on Board? ________________________ 23 Were any Sectors Dominant or Weakly Represented? ________________ 24 How were Communities Brought into the Process? ___________________ 26 How were conflicts resolved? 27 How was Information Shared and Feedback Ensured? ________________ 28 4.4 Management and Policy Drafting ________________________________ 29 Management of the Process ___________________________________ 29 4 South African case study Getting the Content Right ____________________________________ 30 4.5 Benefits and Drawbacks of Participating in the Policy _________________ 30 4.6 Use and Impacts of the Policy __________________________________ 32 4.7 Implementation of the Policy___________________________________ 33 5. LOOKING AHEAD: TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF LEGAL MECHANISMS TO CONTROL ACCESS TO SOUTH AFRICA’S GENETIC RESOURCES _________________________________________________ 35 6. LESSONS AND CONCLUSIONS_________________________________ 37 APPENDICES_________________________________________________ 45 Appendix 1_____________________________________________________ List of those with whom interviews were held _________________________ 45 Appendix 2 ____________________________________________________ Access and Benefit-Sharing Provisions of the Biodiversity White Paper ______ 46 Acknowledgements This report has benefited enormously from the experiences of a range of people. We are especially grateful to the many people who took time to meet with us in November 1999, and who so generously shared with us their impressions and insights about the biodiversity policy process. We hope that this report and our analysis of the process present a fair reflection of these ideas. We would also like to thank Sarah Laird and Lyle Glowka for their useful comments on the report. The study was funded by the UK Department for International Development and the US MacArthur Foundation. 5 South African case study 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The past twenty years have seen increased calls for greater local control over biodiversity, for the sharing of benefits derived from its use, and for a say in the way in which decisions are made about its conservation. This stems from a long history of disregard for the social issues and impacts that accompany conservation projects, as well as the inequitable way in which benefits derived from the commercialisation of biodiversity have been shared in the past. Most of the world’s biodiversity is located in the biologically rich countries of the South, yet the bulk of benefits are realised by companies and institutions in the industrialised North. If biodiversity is to be conserved, these inequities must be redressed. It is this principle that underpins the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Implementing this approach requires that local custodians of biological resources and knowledge, as well as other national stakeholders, become involved in developing appropriate policies and laws to control access to genetic resources and to determine conditions for benefit-sharing. Through such participation it is believed that potential or real conflicts will be transformed into mutually beneficial relationships, trust will be built between role-players, awareness will be raised, and through co-ownership of the process of policy and law-making, implementation will be smooth and effective. Ultimately, it is assumed, the involvement of local stakeholders in the design of policies, laws and procedures, will increase their share of benefits derived from bioprospecting3 and other commercial activities. This involvement should provide an opportunity for local stakeholders to better define and negotiate the terms of a wide range of relationships, from which more equitable benefit sharing will flow. 1.2 Purpose of this Project It was on this basis that the International Institute for Environment and Development, an independent non-profit research organisation based in the United Kingdom, designed a project to investigate participation4 in the development of biodiversity policies and laws. Stated objectives were to record, analyse and share 3 Bioprospecting is the search for economically valuable genetic and biochemical resources. 4 ‘Participation’ means involvement in decision-making, as opposed to ‘consultation’, where there is no guarantee that the views gathered will actually influence decision-making. However, participation can also mean involvement in a consultation process. 6 South African case study the experiences of developing countries in securing stakeholder participation in the design of measures to control access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing (‘ABS’), so allowing for bioprospecting to contribute more effectively to the needs of poor people at local level. Through a process of learning from past experiences in consultation, it was hoped that policy and law making would improve, and that methods of best practice would emerge. The project identified four countries as case studies – Peru, the Philippines, India and South Africa – each of which have engaged stakeholders in the development of policy or law on biodiversity, ABS or traditional knowledge. In Peru, the focus was on the consultative process to develop a sui generis regime on Traditional Knowledge; in the Philippines the project centred around the development of Executive Order No. 247, which regulates access to genetic resources; in India, the focus was on the formulation of the Biodiversity Bill and community biodiversity registers. 1.3 Why South Africa? In South Africa, the focus was on the planning and consultation process conducted to develop a
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