07 February 2018

The Centre for Drug Discovery and Conservation (CDDC) of the Institute of Applied Sciences recently hosted the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-Access Benefit Sharing (ABS) project stakeholders to a visit and tour of the CDDC analytical facilities. IAS was awarded the GEF grant in 2015 and the visit held on Tuesday, 30 January 2018 was part of an outreach to donors and stakeholders to appreciate the laboratory work carried out by CDDC staff after samples are collected from the field.

The Global Environment Facility has provided funding for an Access Benefit Sharing project for Fiji entitled “Discovering Nature-Based Products and Building Capacities for the Application of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing in Fiji”. A major outcome of the project is to build capacity of Fijian institutions to perform natural product drug discovery and development activities in the country. In particular, the programme hopes to discover and develop new pharmaceuticals from natural sources and to conserve the resources from which these pharmaceuticals are derived. The GEF-ABS project builds on activities implemented by a bio-discovery initiative known as the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) in Fiji. The project also addresses gaps in working with the local and national governments in securing access to marine samples and establishing benefit-sharing protocols and mechanisms that support in-country research activities.

The visiting stakeholders included representatives from the United Nations Development Programme, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of i-Taukei Affairs and Ministry of Fisheries. A brief presentation was delivered by the CDDC Manager, Dr. Katy Soapi on the basis of work offered by the Centre and the various stages of bioprospecting that are carried out in the CDDC facilities. The guests were then taken on a tour of the CDDC laboratory and staff gave demonstrations of bioprospecting stages undertaken in the laboratory.

The stakeholders responded positively to the outreach and were pleased with the progress of the GEF-ABS project. The IAS Centre for Drug Discovery and Conservation has since 2001 been involved in bioprospecting work on marine and terrestrial organisms and plants and has been a recipient of a number of grants due to its success in past and present collaborative research.