Bandar Seri Begawan - The Ministry of Industry and primary Resources recently held a workshop where government agencies, private companies, universities and non-government agencies came together to discuss the formulation of the Brunei Darussalam Biodiversity Law.

The workshop sought to identify the roles and responsibilities of relevant agencies in formulating a national goal and indentifying key areas for the proposed law.

The gathering also aimed to gather feedback from agencies and the community to ensure equitable benefit sharing and access to the national biodiversity, including genetic resources and the derivatives.

Another objective of the workshop was to recommend effective legal measures or provisions on the administration of the national biodiversity, including genetic resources and the derivatives and to suggest an institutional structure with the power to oversee implementation, procedures and practices for the sustainable development and wise use of these resources covering agreements and permits, as well as penalties for non-compliance or any acts that contravene the laws, rules and regulations.

The workshop participants also recommended innovative and integrated financing mechanisms to ensure the effective long-term implementation of the law.

At the Asean-KOREA Biodiversity Cooperation Seminar held in Universiti Brunei Darussalam in 2012, the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar mentioned the importance of the formulation of the law to safeguard Brunei's biodiversity resources.

In response to the minister's speech, the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources held the one-day workshop on the formulation of the biodiversity law.

The Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) was invited as facilitators for tile workshop. They shared their findings on issues and challenges in the implementation of the biodiversity law.

The findings and recommendations from the workshop were presented to the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin