BY GCWALISILE MHLABANE
EZULWINI – In a significant move toward safeguarding the Kingdom’s natural heritage, the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs has officially launched a high-level technical process to streamline Eswatini’s international environmental reporting.
The Inception Workshop, hosted on January 15, 2025, at the SibaneSami Hotel, marked the beginning of a coordinated effort to prepare the Fifth National Report (5NR) on the Cartagena Protocol and the First National Report (1NR) on the Nagoya Protocol.
The workshop provided a detailed breakdown of the two critical reporting obligations that serve as the backbone for environmental oversight. The Fifth National Report (5NR) deals with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which provides a framework to ensure the safe handling, transport, and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) to protect biological diversity and human health.
As explained during the technical sessions, the 5NR picks up from the Fourth National Report (4NR), which covered a six-year period ending in October 2019. The current cycle spans from October 2019 to the final submission deadline of February 28, 2026, ensuring Eswatini remains transparent about biological risks through the global Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH).
Alongside this, the First National Report (1NR) addresses the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), which governs access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation. This inaugural report covers an eight-year period dating back to November 2017.
Both instruments are critical for safeguarding Eswatini’s rich biodiversity, supporting sustainable development, and promoting responsible use of biological resources. The process aims to show how the country ensures that any commercial or research use of genetic resources—such as rare medicinal plants—results in fair compensation for the rightful owners of that knowledge.
Representing the Acting Principal Secretary, Ms. Hlobsile Dlamini, Wilfred Mbhekeni Nxumalo delivered a keynote address emphasizing that this workshop took place at a pivotal moment, as Eswatini is concurrently engaged in the preparation of the Seventh National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Nxumalo noted that “these parallel reporting processes offer a unique opportunity for our country to strengthen coherence, coordination, and synergy across the biodiversity-related instruments” by aligning biosafety and access and benefit-sharing goals. He further described the preparation of these reports as a “strategic national opportunity to take stock of progress in implementing our biosafety and ABS frameworks; identify gaps, challenges, and capacity needs; and strengthen stakeholder coordination.”
The Executive Director of the Eswatini Environment Authority (EEA), Isaac Dladla, spoke about the deep link between nature and the people of Eswatini, describing nature as a vital resource used for many essential purposes, including the production of medicine.
Dladla stressed that documenting national measures for the utilisation of genetic resources is crucial for the sustainable management of Eswatini’s biological diversity. He noted that the workshop was fundamental to ensuring that the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from these resources is accurately captured in national records to prevent the unfair exploitation of the Kingdom’s biological heritage.
Nhlangana Calisile reminded participants that these reports are not just the work of one office but a multi-sectoral national process that requires input from across the board. During the sessions, stakeholders from academia, the private sector, and civil society identified specific data points and shared relevant records to ensure the report is inclusive and technically robust.
The Ministry closed the event by reaffirming the government’s full support, noting that the success of these international submissions depends on the accuracy and honesty of the data shared by all national partners to reflect Eswatini’s international obligations.
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