Adopted at the Summit of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique, on 11 July 2003, the revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources commits member states to the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. The African Convention requires parties to provide for fair and equitable access to genetic resources, on mutually agreed terms, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from biotechnologies, based on genetic resources and related traditional knowledge, with the providers of such resources.
Acknowledging the traditional rights of local communities and indigenous knowledge, the Convention compels member states to enact national legislation to ensure that the traditional rights, intellectual property rights of local communities including farmer's rights, are respected. Also, the Convention requires that access to traditional knowledge be subject to the prior informed consent (PIC) of the communities and that communities participate in the process of planning and management of natural resources.
