The Law “On Some Changes and additions to the Law no. 9587,” dated 20.07.2006, “On the Protection of Biodiversity,” as amended, was approved by the Albanian parliament on April 23^rd  – through this amendment the Albanian legal framework is completed to meet the obligations arising from the Nagoya Protocol.

The amended law aims to identify and make operational the network of national authorities responsible for the implementation of Nagoya's protocol in the country. Furthermore, it makes it possible to establish mechanisms for Prior Informed Consent (PIC) and Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT) between providers and users of local genetic resources.

In this way, the legal provisions for obtaining benefits from local communities that provide local genetic resources are provided.

The country had not yet established the necessary measures in accordance with the Nagoya Protocol, related to the monitoring of genetic resources and user-compliance measures – for this reason, public awareness and the development of the national legislation on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) in line with the Nagoya Protocol were priorities for the country.

In this context, the UNDP- Global Environment Facility (GEF) Project “Strengthening human resources, legal frameworks, and institutional capacities to implement the Nagoya Protocol” (Global ABS Project) aims to assist the country in developing and strengthening the national ABS framework, human resources, and administrative capacities to implement the Nagoya Protocol.

The project supports the Albanian government through the Ministry of Tourism and Environment (MTE) as a designated institution also in order to enable Albania to implement future obligations under the Nagoya protocol.

The experts contracted under the UNDP-GEF ABS Project collaborated with the Nagoya Protocol Focal Point and the technical experts at the Ministry of Tourism and Environment and drafted the Law on Biodiversity Protection, which they then handed over to the responsible MTE body.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS), is an agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya (Japan) and entered into force on 12 October 2014, it provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of the 3rd objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Protocol applies to genetic resources that are covered by the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the benefits arising from their utilization, it also covers traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources held by local communities.

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