Last week, our partners Amelia Westmoreland and Thomas Vanagt from 3BIO/ABS International co‑organised and presented at the regional CARICOM capacity‑building workshop on Access and Benefit‑Sharing (ABS), held at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad and Tobago. The workshop aimed to bridge the gap between science and policy in the ABS landscape.
The three‑day event was jointly organised by BlueRemediomics, the CARICOM Secretariat, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, and the German international cooperation agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)) under the new CARICOM/GIZ regional biodiversity project (CARIBIO).
It brought together Nagoya Protocol and BBNJ Agreement National Focal Points (NFPs), legal experts, and scientific researchers, all working to strengthen the Caribbean’s capacity to manage Marine Genetic Resources (MGRs) and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use.
3BIO’s contribution, beyond teaching the regulatory aspects of ABS, focused on presenting the underlying science to policymakers, supported by participating scientific experts. For the occasion, they also launched their ABS negotiation simulation game for the first time, a tool they plan to integrate again into their next workshop.
Overall, the workshop gathered more than 30 participants, creating a valuable forum for science-policy dialogue and helping to strengthen the region’s capacity to implement fair and effective ABS mechanisms.
