The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff (PCSDS) ECAN Policy Research and Planning Division (EPRPD) Chief John Francisco Pontillas and Atty. Anna Fatima R. Chavez-Fabro, attended the regional training-workshop entitled “Prospects for the Nagoya Protocol in Southeast Asia” at the Lyceum of the Philippines University in Manila, held on November 22-23.

The event deliberated on the main principles of the regulations on access to genetic resources and to develop sound approaches when dealing with these regulations among the participants. It also sought to situate the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) approach in a broad context, by providing elements on ethical and intellectual property issues as well as on emergency elements concerning the high seas and genetic sequences.

The primary objective of ABS is to contribute to the conservation of biological diversity by ensuring that the providers of genetic resources are encouraged to safeguard these resources.

The training-workshop was organized by the Research Institute for Development Representation from Vietnam and Lao PDR, the French Embassy in the Philippines, and the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) in Manila.

The Nagoya Protocol aims to encourage the party-countries to implement ABS in their respective countries. Through the collection and utilization of samples, it will also improve research practices by means of comparison, thereby influencing the execution of research projects mobilizing biological resources and traditional knowledge among the member-countries.