Projects active & time of intervention
ABS Capacity Development Initiative - partner country
04/2015 – 03/2022
Why Kenya?
Kenya was selected in 2015 as one of the four partner countries of the ABS Initiative. The African Steering Committee of the ABS Initiative selected Kenya based on expressions of interest from countries and a selection process looking into five criteria:
- Achievements so far regarding regulatory framework, institutional set up and capacity, indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) involvement and ABS cases
- Demonstrated interest and capacity of the ABS National Focal Points (NFP) to move the national ABS process towards political decision making and subsequent implementation
- Potential for new ABS agreements and bioprospecting in general
- Potential for new Biocultural Community Protocol (BCP) based agreements and IPLCs' capacity at the local level
- Interest of political drivers in the ABS process and political stability
In addition, paying attention to regional and language balance plays a significant role.
Ultimately, Kenya was selected as a partner country due to its existing ABS Regulations and corresponding institutions, experiences in negotiating prior informed consent (PIC) and ABS agreements/mutually agreed terms (MAT) and relatively advanced capacities and international cooperation in biological sciences.
Aim
The overall aim of the ABS Capacity Development Initiative’s work in Kenya is to support the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol in all its dimensions.