Effective Implementation of Access and Benefit Sharing of the Nagoya Protocol and Integration into Planned co-management Arrangements in the Nyambai Forest Park of The Gambia i) Provide technical support for developing ABS policy, legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks for The Gambia; (ii) Undertake to pilot of administrative or policy measures to implement community protocols, bioprospecting, and/or biotechnology research; and (iii) Promote ABS-compliant management of protected areas that support improvements in the conditions of biological and genetic resources for the Nyambai Forest Complex. Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency. Normal 0     false false false  EN-US X-NONE X-NONE                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable  {mso-style-name:"Table Normal";  mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;  mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;  mso-style-noshow:yes;  mso-style-priority:99;  mso-style-parent:"";  mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;  mso-para-margin:0in;  mso-pagination:widow-orphan;  font-size:10.0pt;  font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;  mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}    Socioeconomic benefits at the national levelThe Government of The Gambia recognizes the economic potential of biodiversity in socio-economic development and has a strategy to develop and implement policies to support sectors of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products that meet international standards for conservation and sustainable use of biological resources (NBSAP 2015-2020, and the National Development Plan - NDP 2018 - 2021). To achieve these objectives, it also recognizes the need to establish conditions that facilitate the creation and development of linkage between stakeholders based on the sustainable use of biodiversity, particularly the use of biological, genetic, and derivative resources, and of biotechnology, which also ensures the fair and equitable distribution of those benefits derived from the use of those resources between the owners and users of the biodiversity. Sustainable use of genetic resources through the project will have direct socioeconomic benefits for the national economy through improved control over the benefits accruing from the use and commercialization of genetic resources in The Gambia. The ABS framework will establish a mechanism for fair and equitable distribution of benefits that will support both the central government and the local level. By implementing the Nagoya Protocol and implementing ABS regulations, a wide range of sectors in The Gambia, pharmaceutics, research and food industry, and forestry, will be able to receive benefits such as technology transfer, and research findings from the access of The Gambia’s genetic resources. This will have a positive impact on the national economy and will help to drive innovation.Socioeconomic benefits at the local levelCommunities that are custodians of genetic resources at the local level will benefit from livelihood support, skills training, and conservation methods to enhance the sustainability of genetic resource use and fair access to benefits. The social and economic feasibility of modifying existing and promoting alternative livelihoods and their likely impacts on achieving global biodiversity conservation have been assessed. Most of the communities to be involved at the pilot sites are ethnic minorities, renowned for their traditional knowledge of plant species and medicinal uses. The project will also ensure that there is a strong involvement of ethnic minority communities and that their traditional knowledge and beliefs are incorporated into the development of an ABS regime and demonstration activities. During the PPG, a thorough local-level socioeconomic assessment and consultation were conducted to obtain the consent of the ethnic minorities to participate in the project pilot. Full environmental and Social Screening was also conducted during the project preparation phase. The project has ensured that a strong gender concern is built into its actions, and a proper gender analysis was undertaken during project preparation. Especially at the local level, the project will strengthen women’s capacity needs as they are the gatekeepers of traditional knowledge and the primary providers/collectors/managers of natural and genetic resources. The project will ensure that the national ABS regime takes on a gender lens in the implementation of its program. The pilot and demonstration activities will also integrate gender focus and data in their design and monitoring processes to ensure that women are empowered to participate fully and also benefit from the use of genetic resources.At the selected pilot demonstration site, the use of non-timber forests products such as the medicinal plant and product collection is not currently a significant source of income for the people living in the West Coast Region (the district in which Nyambai Forest Park Complex is located). A long-term solution to the relationship between poverty and biodiversity that the demonstration will support is the sustainable use of agro-forest products through successful commercialization of their biological and genetic resources will result in fair and equal payments for the entire community. The project pilot aims to create a way that leads to monetary and non-monetary benefits to the state and the communities through creation and commercialization of indigenous medicinal plants with a distribution of those benefits that follows the provisions set out by The Gambia’s regulations and the Nagoya Protocol, and to use the case study to contribute as test some new legislative regulations relate to benefit-sharing.The demonstration pilots will contribute to the conservation and development of indigenous medicinal plants creating raw materials in order to improve the livelihoods of populations neighbouring the Nyambai Forest Park complex. At the end of the project, it is expected that at least 250 families in the West Coast Region district will receive income from cultivation of indigenous medicinal plant species. Similarly, the project will promote the local economy through contracts that are generated in the value chain (harvesters, transporters, supplies, etc.).Global environmental benefitsGlobally biodiversity is in decline and many factors are contributing to the decline. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report of 2005 identifies human activities as the main cause of changes in biodiversity and these include over-exploitation, pollution, and the impacts of Invasive Alien Species, among others. The Nagoya Protocol on ABS has the potential to reduce loss of biodiversity through access and benefit sharing arrangements that promote the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The Gambia is a Party to the Nagoya Protocol whose objective is the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to the technologies, and by appropriate funding thereby contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components. The implementation of the Protocol thus contribute to improving livelihoods especially of local communities, secure human wellbeing, and promote conservation, sustainable use and equitable benefit sharing of biodiversity. The proposed project, therefore, will enable The Gambia to make its national contribution to the global environmental benefit of conserving biodiversity and sustainably using its components by building national capacity to implement ABS. The implementation of a functioning robust, transparent National ABS mechanism in The Gambia will bring significant opportunities for research, technology development, innovation, products and processes with expected great economic and social returns. At the same time, adopting such green economic opportunities will provide durable incentives for biodiversity conservation. The consolidation of ABS will generate a wide variety of benefits, monetary and non-monetary, for providers of genetic resources and TK, some of which will be reinvested in the biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. The resulting benefits will also support scientific capacity development, economic growth and the consolidation of The Gambia’s biodiversity.The project will, therefore, contribute towards the achievement of a number of CBD Aichi Targets, namely: Target 1, by increasing the awareness of people in Gambia about the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably; Target 12, by preventing the extinction and/or improving the conservation status of threatened species; Target 13, by maintaining the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and of wild relatives, including other socio-economically as well as culturally valuable species, and by developing and implementing strategies for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity; and Target 18, by better involving and respecting the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.During the project development, consultations with local communities and institutional stakeholders led to the decision to combine the three parks (Nyambai Forest Park which is 202 hectares; Kabafita Forest Park with 243ha; and Bamba Forest Park with 389ha for) as one pilot area for the implementation of the project. It was also agreed that the Kiang West National Park should be added (area 11,526 ha under IUCN category II). This increases the area to benefit from project investment while diversifying the ecologies and genetic resources to benefit from biodiscovery and bioprospecting. The total area to benefit from project investment is therefore 12,360ha.