A Blueprint for Sustainable Sourcing: IFRA and IOFI Review Landmark Buchu Project with BMZ and GIZ in Berlin

The essential oil of Buchu - an indigenous biological resource from South Africa - is an important raw material for the fragrance and flavour industry, and falls within the scope of South Africa's Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Regulation. To better understand the challenges and opportunities of sector-wide ABS agreements, Buchu was selected as a case study under GIZ's BioInnovation Africa initiative, with the aim of developing standard procedures to facilitate legally compliant and sustainable use.

The work was carried out through a broad partnership bringing together IFRA and IOFI, our national member association SAAFFI, the traditional knowledge holders (the Khoi-San), the Association of Buchu Growers, and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). After several years of preparatory work, a landmark Benefit Sharing Agreement for Buchu was signed at the end of 2023, the first sector-wide agreement in South Africa to successfully combine both monetary and non-monetary benefit sharing. For IFRA and IOFI, the lessons learned extend well beyond South Africa, and within the country the agreement may serve as a blueprint for other species.

Against this backdrop, Alexander Mohr, President of IFRA, Sven Ballschmiede, Executive Director of IOFI, and Matthias Vey, VP Scientific Affairs at IFRA, were honoured to be invited by GIZ and the BMZ to their Berlin headquarters for an open exchange - reviewing the project's outcomes and reflecting on the insights gained through this successful cooperation.