The files contained on this page constitute a suite of resources to help botanic garden staff learn about the international access and benefit sharing (ABS) regime and how the implementation of national and international ABS regulations and legislation impacts on the work of collection-based institutions. The resources can be used as self-learning tools, but can also be used to support capacity building and training within an institution.

The learning package was developed in the framework of a project entitled ‘Promoting the ABS-compliant use of plant resources in research and development’ which was implemented by BGCI in Ethiopia from 2016-2019. The project was supported by the UK’s Darwin Initiative.

The package consists of two PowerPoint presentations, each accompanied by a booklet with speaker’s notes to assist trainers and support understanding:

1. Introduction to the international ABS framework: This covers the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its ABS provisions, the Nagoya Protocol and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).
2. Access and benefit sharing at the institution: This looks at how ABS may be implemented in practice in collection-based institutions. Elements of an institutional ABS toolkit are identified.

To test learning and understanding, the package also includes a set of ABS quiz questions and a number of ABS scenarios relevant to the work of researchers and collection holders. The scenarios are accompanied by guidance notes for trainers.

Additionally, please see below for related resources:

• The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)
  • List of Species covered found in Annex 1
• The Nagoya Protocol

We hope this whole ABS learning package will provide a useful and flexible resource to support ABS implementation by botanic gardens. You are able to download all the resources below either as a compressed folder containing all resources (88MB) or as individual files.