Countries come together to work for biodiversity

The Dominican Republic, Germany and Costa Rica launched the project “strengthening capacities for the application of the principles of access to genetic and biochemical resources derived from biodiversity, as well as for the participation of benefits (ABS) in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
The initiative is carried out through the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic, together with the National Biodiversity Management Commission (CONAGEBIO), Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy of Costa Rica, in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation, GIZ.

This two-way triangular cooperation project aims to strengthen and promote the application of ABS principles in the productive sectors that use genetic and biochemical resources and their derivatives in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. ABS (for its acronym in English: Access and Benefit Sharing) seeks that the distribution of benefits, whether economic or not, that result from the use of said resources are fair and equitable throughout its value chain.

The project will be implemented based on the experiences developed by both countries, and with Germany as the facilitating country, which shows the joint interest in positioning the application of ABS principles in the different productive sectors of both countries through synergies between the business networks, the private and government sectors, as well as supporting different entities interested in obtaining the ABS distinctive, with a multi-actor and gender approach.

The event was led by Alexis Cruz, Vice Minister of Economic and Social Analysis of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development; Federico Franco, Vice Minister of Protected Areas and Biodiversity of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, and Volker Pellet, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Dominican Republic. In addition to Saskia Rodríguez, Director of International Cooperation of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, along with Franklin Paniagua, Vice Minister of the Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica.