A landmark agreement under the United Nations' Nagoya Protocol awards South African indigenous peoples benefits from the harvest and marketing of rooibos tea.
TheKhoi and San, collectively known as the Khoisan, have for centuries populated theCederburg Mountains, a region of South Africa and the only place in the worldwhere drinkable cultivars of rooibos thrive. The Nov. 1 announcement culminates decades of negotiations establishingthe San people as the first users of rooibos, a discovery that entitles them toa share of rooibos industry profits.
Underthe agreement, the San and Khoi receive 1.5% of the farmgate price ofunprocessed rooibos, split 50:50. In 2019 this amounts to about $800,000. Inaddition, businesses that use the likeness and symbols of Khoisan to markettheir products will pay royalties. The rooibos industry produces 16,000 metrictons annually and is estimated to generate about $35 million in sales globally,with exports to 30 countries. About 80% of exports are to Europe, mainlyGermany. Japan and the U.S. also import rooibos which was popularized in theearly 2000s as a non-caffeinated beverage by Starbucks and continues to grow inmarket share.
Accordingto an article in Nature, the San first arrived in South Africa about100,000 years ago. The Khoi settled in the area about 2,000 years ago.Commercial farming of rooibos began in the early 1900s.
“Inspite of the agreement,the precise origins of rooibos tea remain contentious. Representatives of theSan and Khoi say that their ancestors shared knowledge of the plant withcolonial settlers. The literature also points to its early uses as a health teaand as a diuretic,” Nature reported.
“Overall, there is a lackof research literature in this field, but what there is suggests that rooibosas a beverage did originate with the groups’ ancestors, according to the 2015study commissioned by the South African government, called ‘TraditionalKnowledge Associated with Rooibos and honeybush Species in South Africa’,according to the magazine.
Martin Bergh, managing director of Rooibos Ltd, based inClanwilliam, contends there is no proof the Khoisan drank rooibos tea, but concedesthey knew of the plant and used it for its medicinal properties.
Hiscompany and others harvesting and processing rooibos agreed to the settlement,the first since the Nagoya Protocol was ratified in 2010. The protocol is thecenterpiece of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity,international law that sets new rules for compensating communities when theirknowledge of biodiversity is used by business, science or government. The goalis to preserve and reward knowledge about plants and processes handed down fromgeneration to generation.
Enforcementof the protocol “will provide a framework for compliance in future cases“according to Lesle Jansen, an attorney with the environmental and humanrights law firm Natural Justice, who represented the National Khoisan Councilin the negotiations. Jansen was quoted in Quartz: “Thisis the first time since knowledge was misappropriated over 150 and 200 yearsago that the communities are firstly recognized as traditional knowledge holdersand, as a result of that, qualify for benefit sharing.”