THE PROJECT WILL CREATE AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL, OF WHICH SAINT LUCIA IS PARTY TO.

On February 28, Saint Lucia will officially launch a project titled “Strengthening Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) Policies and Institutional Frameworks through Demonstrable Models in Saint Lucia.”

The project aims to contribute to creating an enabling environment that paves the way for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol in Saint Lucia. It also seeks to create the avenues for effective stakeholder participation in decision making and in obtaining economic benefits derived from the use of native genetic resources.

With the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the Implementing Agency, the project will be executed by International Union for Conservation of Nature, Regional Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (ORMACC), in collaboration with the Department of Sustainable Development within the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science Technology, and Vocational Training of the Government of Saint Lucia.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. Saint Lucia is now Party to the Nagoya Protocol, having deposited its instrument of accession to the Protocol on February 11, 2022, with effect from July 12, 2022.

The launch will be held at the Bougainvillea Conference Room, Bay Gardens Hotel from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

For more information on the launch or the project, please contact Jeremiah Kennedy Edmund, Sustainable Development & Environment Officer, at email jeremiah.edmund@govt.lc or telephone 468-5586 or 721-9133.