The ABS Project Management Unit and the Biodiversity Management Bureau-Wildlife Resources Division met with national government agencies (DENR-ERDB, DOST-PCAARRD, DOST-FPRDI), academe (UPLB-BIOTECH and UP Diliman-Institute of Biology), and private sector (Pharmalytics Corporation) on the development of roadmaps for banaba and pili on October 5-6, 2022.
The purpose of the roadmaps is to define the vision, research priorities, and strategies for integrating ABS principles and practices into the R&D initiatives of the Philippines bio-industry.
The GEF-UNDP-DENR-supported ABS Project (Implementing the National Framework on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge in the Philippines Project) seeks to increase economic opportunity and biodiversity conservation for indigenous peoples and local communities in the Philippines stemming from fair and equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits.
During the course of its six-year execution, the project will harmonize and simplify ABS-related policies, build awareness and capacities to implement ABS, and showcase ABS agreements from the use of banaba in Region III and pili in Region V. (ABS Project/ Orange Omengan)
