Nairobi, Kenya
July 21, 2005
Kimani Chege,
SciDev.Net
A panel has
been set up to advise the African Union on ways of building
capacity to apply and safely handle modern biotechnology.
The African
Panel on Biotechnology includes senior scientists and
policymakers from across the continent. Its creation was
announced on 30 June by the
African Union and the
New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD).
The panel
will be co-chaired by a former vice-president of the World Bank,
Ismail Serageldin of Egypt, and Calestous Juma, the Kenyan
former secretary-general of the UN Convention on Biodiversity.
Its creation
is "a clear sign the Africa Union is finally pushing Africa
towards science-led development" says Norah Olembo, executive
director of the African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, which
promotes public awareness of biotechnology solutions to Africa's
problems.
Juma, also
director of the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at
Harvard University in the United States, says the panel was
created with the view that Africa should stop "playing victim".
"Africa much
take charge of its future and assess the usefulness of all
existing technological options for meeting its needs," Juma told
SciDev.Net.
Launching the
panel, Alpha Oumar Konare, chair of the African Union
Commission, said it showed "Africa's determination to take a
common informed approach to address issues pertaining to modern
biotechnology and its applications for health, agriculture,
industry, mining and the environment".
Juma says
"important relevant research is being carried out in East Africa
on agriculture and in Egypt and South Africa on biomedical
research. Nigeria is an important player in a variety of
fields".
"The
challenge is how to make biotechnology relevant to local needs
and how to ensure that existing institutions meet this
challenge," he says.
"More
specifically, there is an urgent need to look at African
universities as vehicles of community development, and one of
the key technological opportunities for this is biotechnology."
The panel
includes the Ghanaian environmental lawyer George Sarpong,
Samuel Nzietchu, director of the Algeria-based African Agency
for Biotechnology, and Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabhe, Africa's
chief negotiator for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which
governs the international movement of genetically modified (GM)
organisms.
Tewolde
advocates a 'precautionary' approach to GM crops. Despite this,
Olembo, whose organisation supports using biotechnology
solutions, approves of his appointment.
"The
composition of the panel is excellent," she told SciDev.Net.
"The tendency
has been to see biotechnology in Africa narrowly in terms of GM
crops — this should not be the case," said Olembo, pointing out
that biotechnology also has applications in other sectors such
as health, industry and the environment.
Olembo said
the panel must appreciate Africa's need to increase capacity to
deal with all aspects of biotechnology — from research and
innovation, to biosafety and intellectual property. This, said
Olembo, would require African countries to increase funding for
biotechnology research and development.
The NEPAD
Science and Technology Office in Tshwane (formerly Pretoria),
South Africa, will coordinate the African Panel on
Biotechnology's activities. |