Capacity Building for an Africa-wide Biosafety System a project “Support to the AU in the Matters of Biosafety” within the context of the AU-German Cooperation

The Biosafety Project of the African Union (AU) was developed based on the analysis of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety adopted in January 2000 with capacity building in African countries as the main concern. As a Protocol to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Cartagena Protocol sets minimum standards for regulating certain aspects concerning the safe transfer, handling and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) with a special focus on the import and export of GMOs. These standards should ensure an adequate level of protection to avoid or minimize potential adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking into account human health.

The following activities are not fully covered by the Protocol and need to be regulated additionally in national biosafety systems:

•  development of domestic GMOs

•  use in contained systems

•  approval of deliberate releases into the environment

•  approval of food consisting of or derived from GMOs

•  labelling of food consisting of or derived from GMOs

Based on its awareness of the challenges of implementing the Protocol and dealing with its gaps, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) decided to develop a regional model law to support its Member States in matters of biosafety. This model law, finalized by an OAU working group in May 2001, was supported by the OAU Council of Ministers in July 2001. The aim of the Model Law was to assist Member States to develop comprehensive Biosafety frameworks taking into account the souvereignity of States to regulate GMO issues but also their relevant international obligations.

At the Maputo Meeting of the AU Executive Council in July 2003, the AU Commission presented the agenda item "The Africa Wide Capacity Building In Biosafety". After considering the item, the Council adopted Decision EX/CL/Dec.26(III) that, amongst others:

"requests the chairperson of the commission to convene a meeting of experts and civil society organizations to give further consideration to this issue and come out with proposals for an African common position for adoption by the policy organs of the African Union;"

and urges the Member States to use the African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology as a basis for drafting their national legal instruments in biosafety.

The project is to provide the AU with the necessary capacity and effective instruments to support its Member States in implementing the Cartagena Protocol and using the African Model Law, the project Capacity Building for an Africa-wide Biosafety System, has been developed between the AU and the German Development Cooperation. The project is being implemented jointly by the AU and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and is part of a broader AU – German Cooperation. Since the AU has no legal means to enforce its policies and decisions in Member States, the aim of the current project is to incorporate the topic biosafety into the political and institutional frameworks of the AU and into its support services for the Member States.

The project activities started in July 2005 with the selection of the project personnel, the first annual action plan started January 2006 . Two African biosafety experts with knowledge in both biosafety-related sciences and environmental law and an Administrative Assistant are working for the project located in the AU Directorate for Human Resources, Science and Technology in Addis Ababa. The Project duration is three years, the total budget is 2 million EUR.

The Project pursues the following objectives:

•  Development of an AU Strategy to implement the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology and itsapplication on national and regional levels.

In March 2006, the Project will convene a preparatory workshop for the African delegates at the 3rd Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Cartagena Protocol in Curitiba/Brazil. The MOP is the top periodic meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol giving instructions to the Secretariat of the Convention taking the appropriate decisions and measures for the implementation of the Protocol which implies in-depth negotiations between the Parties. This workshop will support the AU Member States in their quest to form a well prepared African Group at these UN negotiations in order to strengthen their negotiation capacities and impact. The workshop therefore provides a platform to develop a common position of AU Member States on the crucial issues of the negotiations.

After MOP-3, the project will organize the review of the African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology by experts from AU Member States and, if necessary, the Model Law will be adapted to the current challenges in the fields of biosafety and modern biotechnology in the African context.

The amended Model Law will then be submitted to Conferences of Ministers of Science and Technology, Ministers of Environment and Ministers of Trade and Industry for consideration and adoption. Finally the Model Law will be submitted to the Summit of Heads of State and Government for adoption.

•  A network for continuous information exchange between the AU biosafety unit and the National Biosafety Focal Points will be maintained.

The network will be established during the preparatory workshop before MOP-3. It will be used throughout the project life to ensure continuous communication and exchange of experiences between the AU and the Focal Points. Regional workshops should be organized by the network to support the Member States in using the biosafety-related decisions of the Heads of State Summit on the implementation of national biosafety frameworks and laws.

•  The project provides strategic options to strengthen the existing technical and laboratory capacities on regional, sub-regional and national levels to identify GMOs and products thereof.

Depending on the needs and priorities of the AU Member States and the outcome of the Heads of State Summit, international experts will be requested to develop strategic options for a coordinated approach with regard to GMO detection and identification in Africa.