The Republic of Seychelles is a Party to the Nagoya Protocol since its entry into force (ratification) on October 12, 2014. Seychelles does not have a comprehensive legislative/regulatory ABS framework in place.

The Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS), through its parent the Ministry of Industries and International Business, has a facilitator role as a hub where all the stakeholders and research partners can bring their documents and or seek additional information. Other line ministries such as the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC), the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and now the National Institute of Science Technology and Innovation (NISTI) have more of the decision-making roles. The Department of the Environment of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change is the designated institution where the Nagoya Protocol on ABS focal point is hosted.

With the support of the UNDP-GEF Global ABS project, the ABS policy and the Traditional Knowledge inventory were created to preserve and valorise Seychelle’s GR and aTK. Against this background and following the request of the national ABS team in Seychelles, the Global ABS project is now seeking a national consultant to develop and define guidelines for the utilization of GR and aTK in Seychelles. 

The national consultant will review the work done by the TK Inventory consultant in 2019 and from there develop and define guidelines for utilization of Genetic Resources and associated Traditional Knowledge and build awareness amongst relevant stakeholders and stakeholder groups to disseminate the former.

The Deadline for submission of offers is 31st May 2019 at 00.00 (Midnight, New York, USA).