Christine Echookit Akello
The Book provides the background to the legal regime on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing. It explores the international framework, in particular, the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization. Many African legal frameworks are also referred to, under the guiding umbrella of the African Union.The book also highlights the importance of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources. This is also a resource whose exploitation should be controlled, and once utilized, the proceeds that result from its utilization should be shared with the communities from where the knowledge originated. The book recognizes that there could be resources that need to be well developed by research in-country, and calls for government focus on those areas, especially in regard to capacitating national gene banks and research institutions. As the focus is on Uganda, the book naturally makes reference to the Uganda setting in this regard. Hence, policy and legislative recommendations are made.