Andean Countries Increase their Bio Trade Revenues

in recent years, Bio Trade companies have seen an increase in sales in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, the latter being one of the leading countries in the development of Bio Trade and bio business value chains, as food derivatives and native medicinal and aromatic plants currently bring in around $460 million per year in the United States.

This information was revealed during the "Promoting an Effective and Coordinated Deployment of the Nagoya Protocol and Bio Trade in Peru" workshop, which took place September 12 and 13 and was organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in coordination with Peru’s Environment and Foreign Trade and Tourism ministries, as well as Promperú, with support from CAF - Development Bank of Latin America, Switzerland’s Secretary for Economic Affairs and Cooperation (SECO) and Germany’s Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

David Vivas Eugui, Legal Officer at UNCTAD’s Trade and Environment Branch, said that more than 50 representatives of the public and private sectors graduated from the workshop, which provided training on best regulatory and administrative practices to promote Bio Trade in a manner that complies with regulations established by the Nagoya Protocol, which seeks fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources for commercial purposes.

During the two-day workshop, UNCTAD introduced and ABS Handbook and a few model clauses for access contracts for commercial purposes that it developed with Peru’s environment ministry in order to support the Peruvian authorities in defining guidelines for its effective and coordinated implementation, as well as to introduce administrative incentives that allow companies to comply with the new standards required by the Nagoya Protocol.

Megadiversity and Bio Trade

After ratifying the institution’s commitment to fostering the conservation and awareness of Latin America’s biodiverse natural capital, as well as promoting - among other things - the Andean Bio Trade Program, CAF Green Business Unit coordinator René Gómez-García stressed the need to turn such comparative advantage into competitive advantages, adding that certain tools are needed to create the conditions for productive transformation to boost its development. "We support projects that increase competitiveness by providing inclusive scientific, technological, and managerial resources and instruments to overcome funding challenges," he said.

Martin Peter, head of SECO in Peru, noted that the institution he helms regards Bio Trade as a valuable tool for promoting biodiversity and an opportunity for sustainable development for megadiverse countries in the region.

According to data from MINAM and Promperú – an entity under MINCETUR – sales of Peruvian products derived from natural foods and native medicinal and aromatic plants currently bring in some $460 million per year in the United States. Peruvian companies in this field have focused mainly on the collection, cultivation, distillation, processing and marketing of biodiversity-based products, following environmental, social and economic sustainability criteria.

MINCETUR’s Foreign Trade Development Policy director Francisco Ruiz Zamudio confirmed that his portfolio expects exports to exceed $50 billion to further consolidate the sector as an engine of growth and job creation in the country, as well as non-traditional exports to break the record and reach $14 billion. He also said that agricultural exports - of which Bio Trade is an important part - are projected to double.

Meanwhile, MINAM's director-general of Biological Diversity, José Álvarez, stated that a megadiverse country such as Peru has great potential to develop various activities based on natural products, which he expects to attract investors who will not only be assured a return on their investment, but whose products will be able to enter international markets with the relevant certification. He stressed that Peru is currently one of the leading countries in the development of Bio Trade value chains and bio business.

Álvarez also said that the Agriculture and Production ministries - among other offices - are currently in the process of updating the Regulation on Access to Genetic Resources, adding that his department also has a National Bio Trade Strategy and Action Plan to be concluded by 2025, which includes policies and rules for the promotion and implementation of such activities, with an emphasis on the market and the powerful development of supply, among other themes.

The Nagoya Protocol – which entered into force on October 12, 2014 and has been ratified by 109 countries as of August 2018 – is intended to implement the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), namely the fair and equitable distribution of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. To that end, the protocol has clarified a number of definitions and introduced a set of principles and rules on access and benefit-sharing (ABS)aimed at providing greater legal certainty to stakeholders.

For the first time, new provisions on compliance, verification and fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from the use of genetic resources and the associated traditional knowledge in cross-border situations have also been included. Several of the ratifying countries, including Peru, have begun to reconsider and revise their national ABS policies in order to bring their regulations and administrative practices into line with the Nagoya Protocol.