What are the main issues that African nations face in forthcoming negotiations on biotechnology and biosafety?
This policy brief from the International Institute for Sustainable Development identifies and analyses the challenges African policymakers and negotiators may face during 2007 international biotechnology and biosafety negotiations. The authors, Soledad Aguilar and Elsa Tsioumani, discuss in particular: the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, where rules on liability and redress are being formulated; the Convention on Biological Diversity, dealing with access to genetic resources; and the Global Environment Facility, where funding negotiations for biosafety initiatives are under way. Aguilar and Tsioumani review recent developments in biosafety and biotechnology policy in Africa, focusing on the frameworks adopted by African organisations in recent months, including the African Union’s Consolidated Plan of Action on Science and Technology and its Freedom to Innovate report. They identify three policy goals that have emerged in Africa: promoting biotechnology for sustainable development and
