Making sense of access and benefit sharing in the rooibos industry: Towards a holistic, just and sustainable framing

Over the past decade, a series of controversies has arisen about equity and justice in the rooibos industry, centred both on the biological resource and on the traditional use and knowledge that fostered the growth of this lucrative trade. Accusations of biopiracy, meaning the misappropriation and patenting of genetic resources and knowledge without consent, have taken centre stage, leading to a reassessment of the conditions under which rooibos is traded. Claiming to be the primary holders of traditional knowledge relating to rooibos, indigenous San and Khoi have also launched demands—to date unmet—for a stake in rooibos benefits. Meanwhile, small-scale coloured rooibos producers, despite their involvement in fair trade, remain marginalized. All remain embedded in a political history of rooibos that is characterized by dispossession and adversity, having been propped up by the South African apartheid system.The melding of these issues with a complex and ambiguous legal framework has led to a situation described by some as “the mother” and “testing ground” of so-called access and benefit sharing. Such approaches stem in part from the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol, which lay down new and more equitable ways of treating trade in genetic resources and the use of traditional knowledge. With growing international interest in rooibos tea and its bioactive compounds, a surge of patents associated with the plant, the successful granting of geographical indication status, and threats to the industry of changing climates, ecologies and ecosystems, the stage is set for a reconceptualization and transformation of the industry.Drawing on longitudinal research over the past 20years, this review paper aims to bring conceptual clarity and a holistic analysis to an often emotional, divided and, to date, narrowly framed debate. Through exploration of rooibos histories and traditional knowledge claims, bioprospecting and patent activities, and conservation imperatives, this paper reviews the spectrum of issues that require attention when considering access and benefit sharing in the rooibos industry and provides suggestions for a more integrative, environmentally responsive and just approach.