1 September 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has released a report of the African Regional Workshop on the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The workshop addressed, among other issues: basic concepts and facts relevant to liability and redress; scenarios of damage and cases of liability; experience and approaches within the region in providing rules on liability and redress; and signature and ratification.

In their conclusions, participants, inter alia: accepted a suggestion by the African Union (AU) Commission to formulate guidelines and strategies to support African countries in putting legal frameworks on liability and redress into place; noted the African Model Law on Biosafety as as one possible source of information for the development of regulatory frameworks; agreed to initiate implementation by reviewing existing domestic laws; and considered the usefulness of a harmonized approach with regard to determining damage to biodiversity, measuring biodiversity loss, techniques for biodiversity valuation and strategies to control the transboundary movements of living modified organisms (LMOs).

The workshop, held 21-22 July 2011, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was organized by the CBD Secretariat in collaboration with the AU Commission. [Publication: Workshop Report]