Our activities

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Selected past, present, and future activities

TC/ESG25 Conference:

We are pleased to announce that Dr Damien Krichewsky and Dr Michael Shirungu will conduct a Flexible Interactive Dialogue Session on the topic 'Transforming biodiversity governance through pluriversal action research' at the TC/ESG25 Conference Navigating Sustainability Transformations Towards Justice and Equity on 18-21 August 2025 in Johannesburg (South Africa).

Oxford ICSB:

Dr Damien Krichewsky contributed a presentation on 'Engaging ABS as an opportunity for sustainability transformation' at the 23rd Annual International Conference on the Science of Botanicals (ICSB) on 7-10 April 2025 in Oxford MS (United States). This was a great opportunity to discuss why ABS matters with the American scientific and industrial community that works with natural products, in a context where the US government is taking decisions that might negatively impact the ability of scientific and commercial users of genetic resources to act in line with the principles and values underpinning ABS.

For a press report on this presentation, see here.

First Plenary Workshop:

TEGA's first Plenary Workshop was held on 24-27 November 2024 in Malmesbury (South Africa). It gathered TEGA's team and 25 ABS stakeholders from Canada, Germany, Namibia and South Africa to i) establish TEGA's Community of Purpose, ii) start interweaving knowledge on ABS, and iii) explore the needs and potentials for transformative change in ABS. Departing from standard workshop formats, the event comprised various activities such as a Khoi ceremony, circle conversations, a collective mapping of the ABS field, self-inquiry in groups, an embodied exploration of the relations of participants to tenets of modern development (e.g., human exceptionalism, belief in linear progress), and a somatic exercise on transformative change that was facilitated by an experienced systems constellator.

Initial field research:

Between August and October 2024, Prof Ahmad Cheikhyoussef, Prof William Ellis, Dr Damien Krichewsky and Dr Michael Shirungu conducted joint field research in various parts of South Africa (Pretoria; Johannesburg; the Eastern Cape; the Western Cape) and Namibia (Windhoek; Erongo region; Caprivi) as part of their preliminary research and the engagement of ABS stakeholders to build TEGA's Community of Purpose.

Highlights

TEGA's first Scientific Report, which presents results from the preparatory phase of the action research and paves the way for the second phase, is now available here:

After the completion of its preparatory phase, TEGA's action research has launched a second phase of transdisciplinary collaboration that is organised in three thematic working groups:

Working Group #1: Revising ABS policy frameworks in a metamorphosing world.

Working Group #2: Strengthening equity, reciprocity and sustainability in biotrade value chains.

Working Group #3: Science and indigenous knowledge in ABS.

The four phases of TEGA

TEGA's action research is structured in four distinct phases:

Preparatory phase (July 2024 – February 2025): This phase of the action research was dedicated to team building, conducting preliminary conceptual and empirical research, engaging ABS stakeholders to form TEGA's Community of Purpose, designing and conducting a first Plenary Workshop in South Africa, presenting preliminary findings in a scientific report, planning the next phase, and embedding TEGA in various scientific networks.

Initiating transformation (March 2025 – February 2026): Building on TEGA's preliminary findings, participants in its Community of Purpose will collaborate within three Working Groups to identify and target desired problem-solving changes in the field of ABS, to develop strategies, and to use their combined agency to pursue change accordingly. TEGA’s scientific team will support this work by providing scientific input and facilitating collaboration. Participants will gather at a second Plenary Workshop in Namibia at the end of November 2025 to share their experiences, achievements, and lessons learned, and to plan the next phase of the action research.

Deepening transformation (March 2026 – February 2027): Problem-solving in biodiversity governance is an entry point for deep transformation, and the collective attempts of TEGA's three Working Groups to fix ABS-related problems will lead us to questions of deeper significance and greater transformative potential. Who has been defining problems and framing legitimate responses in the field of ABS, based on which epistemological premises, institutional logics, power positions, and interests? Which experiences, perspectives, interests and possibilities have been ignored, muted, or sidelined? More fundamentally, how are the terms of ABS - e.g., 'biological material', 'genetic resources', 'access', 'fairness and equity', 'benefits', 'community', 'indigenous knowledge', 'sustainability' - being framed at an ontological level? By addressing these deeper layers, TEGA's three Working Groups will uncover and activate transformative possibilities for strengthening reciprocity, equity, and ecological sustainability in bioprospecting and biotrade.

Disseminating findings (March 2027 – June 2027): TEGA's action research will be concluded with a third Plenary Workshop to be held in Germany, the completion of scientific publications, and a series of science communication activities that will disseminate our findings in relevant publics in the field of ABS and beyond.

TEGA's flight plan: