Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
As demand for biological resources grows globally, Namibia is positioning itself to ensure communities benefit from their use.
It's against this background that the Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism held its first meeting aimed at strengthening the implementation of the framework.
Namibia has the potential to generate substantial economic value from its natural resources.
However, the challenge now is to ensure that these opportunities have meaningful economic benefits for local communities while also safeguarding their resources and traditional knowledge against exploitation.
Therefore, the ABS framework aims to provide strategic, technical, scientific, legal and policy guidance to the ABS Office on matters relating to access to biological and genetic resources as well as associated traditional knowledge.
Speaking at the occasion of the National Focal Point for ABS, Dr. Kauna Schröder says Namibia's law is broader because it covers both genetic and biological resources, unlike many laws that only cover genetic resources.
"For far too long, we have postponed because we are waiting for the structure to be approved, but that does not enable us to implement and complete what we're supposed to do. So we want to recall that the act was passed by parliament in 2017. The regulations were gazetted in November 2021. And the excess and benefit office was established in February 2022. The committees are the final institutional pillar contemplated by section 631 of ABSA."
She says the Act regulates access to Namibia's genetic resources and seeks to ensure that communities whose resources or traditional knowledge are utilised receive a fair share of the resulting benefits.
Namibia, she suggested, also needs to strengthen its Access and Benefit-Sharing framework in line with its commitment to the Nagoya Protocol, which promotes the fair and equitable distribution of benefits.
She further noted that the framework further safeguards community rights and establishes guidelines for benefit-sharing when biological resources are used for commercial purposes.
As demand for biological resources grows globally, Namibia is positioning itself to ensure communities benefit from their use.
It's against this background that the Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism held its first meeting aimed at strengthening the implementation of the framework.
Namibia has the potential to generate substantial economic value from its natural resources.
However, the challenge now is to ensure that these opportunities have meaningful economic benefits for local communities while also safeguarding their resources and traditional knowledge against exploitation.
Therefore, the ABS framework aims to provide strategic, technical, scientific, legal and policy guidance to the ABS Office on matters relating to access to biological and genetic resources as well as associated traditional knowledge.
Speaking at the occasion of the National Focal Point for ABS, Dr. Kauna Schröder says Namibia's law is broader because it covers both genetic and biological resources, unlike many laws that only cover genetic resources.
"For far too long, we have postponed because we are waiting for the structure to be approved, but that does not enable us to implement and complete what we're supposed to do. So we want to recall that the act was passed by parliament in 2017. The regulations were gazetted in November 2021. And the excess and benefit office was established in February 2022. The committees are the final institutional pillar contemplated by section 631 of ABSA."
She says the Act regulates access to Namibia's genetic resources and seeks to ensure that communities whose resources or traditional knowledge are utilised receive a fair share of the resulting benefits.
Namibia, she suggested, also needs to strengthen its Access and Benefit-Sharing framework in line with its commitment to the Nagoya Protocol, which promotes the fair and equitable distribution of benefits.
She further noted that the framework further safeguards community rights and establishes guidelines for benefit-sharing when biological resources are used for commercial purposes.
