Eritrea

UNDP-CO hosted a 4 days National Bio-safety Clearing House Mechanism Training Workshop between the 13th - 17th July 2009, in support of the Government/GEF/UNEP National BCH Capacity Building Project, launched in June 2007. The training was attended by experts spanning from a range of sectors namely: Department of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries, National Customs Office, Eritrean Institute of Standards, National Agricultural Research Institute, Orotta School of Medicine, Eritrean Institute of Technology and UNDP-CO.

The defining objective of the training workshop was to build national capacity to enable Eritrea fulfill its obligation to the Cartagena protocol. Within the training scope, participants gained a comprehensive understanding on the essence of the Cartagena Protocol, and hands on practices on the usage of the global BCH database, a tool developed to communicate, retrieve and analyze information pertain to Living Modified Organic Substances (LMOS).

The training event hosted by UNDP-CO is monumental, as further entry point to expand and strengthen the Government, UNDP, and UNEP Tripartite partnership. Upon the invitation of the government, it is recalled a high UNEP delegation from its Regional Office in Nairobi visited Eritrea between the 24th - 26th June 2009, and the three parties assessed existing opportunities for potential cooperation. At the same time, participation of UNDP-CO staff in the training opens a new window of opportunity for a broader programmatic engagement in the Cartagena Protocol and the BCH arenas.

Eritrea ratified the Cartagena protocol on the 10th March 2005, and entered into force on the 08th of June to be a member of the Conference of the Party (COP). As part of its commitment, the country recently implemented a Bio-safety enabling project, that helped develop a Draft National Bio-safety Framework (NBF) which will enable Eritrea to:

• Set up an appropriate policy, institutional and decision-making mechanisms such that Eritrea can maximize the potential benefits of modern biotechnology while minimizing the perceived risks associated with it,
• Ensure that all modern biotechnology activities in Eritrea are carried out in a safe, participatory and transparent manner, to minimize and to the extent possible, prevent risks associated with modern biotechnology applications,
• Comply with and adhere to the provisions of the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety,
• Harmonize, as much as possible, the NBF policy for Eritrea with those in the region so as to enable the safe transfer and handling of LMOS and their products.

(Source: DOE, Draft NBF for Eritrea November 2007 / http://www.bch.cbd.int)