The Republic of Belarus is the first out of 24 countries to wrap up the UNDP-GEF Global ABS Project “Strengthening of human resources, legal frameworks and institutional capacities to implement the Nagoya Protocol”. The terminative workshop will be held on October 11, 2019 in Minsk.

The project was implemented in 2018-2019 by the Institute of Genetics and Cytology, NAS of Belarus, through the national execution modality and the total project financing amounted to $350 000 US. The key project objective was to develop the National ABS framework to comply with the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The second project component aimed to build trust between providers and users of genetic resources using advanced DNA identification techniques and its third component involved the study of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. It was the first time of such research in our country.

During the workshop, the main project outcomes and each component outputs achieved will be presented followed by deliberations on the lessons learned and challenges faced. Sharing of experience with regional representatives implementing the project (Kazakhstan) is planned.

The Chairperson of the Presidium of NAS of Belarus, Academician Vladimir Gusakov, Deputy Chairperson of the Presidium of NAS of Belarus and the National Project Coordinator, Academician Alexander Kilchevsky, UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus Alexandra Solovieva, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Korbut, UNDP-GEF Global ABS Project Coordinators from the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS Claudio Chiarolla and Alejandro Lago from the UNDP Regional Center for LAC will take part in the workshop.