Traditional Knowledge Act workshop underway in Keetmanshoop

KEETMANSHOOP, 24 OCT – Around 60 people are attending an awareness and information-sharing workshop underway here on the implementation of the Access to Biological and Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge Act.
The three-day workshop, which started Tuesday, is organised by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and in attendance are traditional authorities, community members, harvesters, trader associations and cooperatives from the Hardap and //Kharas regions.
MET Biodiversity Management and Climate Change project coordinator, Henry Ndengejelo in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday said the workshop aims to educate stakeholders about the Act, which was passed and promulgated in 2017.
“We want to engage with them and get input from them too to help us in regulating the Act, we need to inform them on the benefits and how the Act will affect their lives,” he said.
The workshop further provides an opportunity for communities to share insight on issues relevant to the Act; highlighting current challenges and proposing possible solutions.
In a speech delivered on her behalf, Keetmanshoop Mayor Gaudentia Kröhne said biological and genetic resources have been used in communities and by people for centuries in the form of food, medicine or cosmetics.
She added that in most cases, these resources are small plants or part of a tree.
“Our ancestors have developed certain know-how about these resources, tried and tested from generation to generation and today this know-how has become deeply rooted within our cultures and communities,” she said.
Kröhne said southerners in particular, being friendly and welcoming, have been too eager and keen to share certain cultural knowledge with “anyone and everyone” – whether they come from Namibia or from outside.
“It is a good thing to share the knowledge but regrettably, we have seen that this knowledge about our plants and natural resources have been used to enrich a few while not recognising or more importantly, sharing the commercial benefits derived from the resources’ use with the rightful traditional owners and communities where the knowledge on that specific resource comes from,” Kröhne said.
She commended the government as it has acted swiftly in the promulgation of the Act which aims to regulate access to these resources associated with traditional knowledge, protect the rights of the local communities over these resources and provide a fair and equitable mechanism for the sharing of any benefit that may accrue as a result of this knowledge.
(NAMPA)