ABSTRACT
The complexities of governing NTFPs are vividly illustrated by a case from southern Africa involving species of Hoodia, a succulent plant that has undergone rapid commercialization in the past decade. The case is particularly interesting because of the plant’s traditional use to stave off hunger and thirst by the indigenous San peoples, the oldest human inhabitants of Africa Pappe et al, 1862; White and Sloane, 1937). Policy frameworks that have evolved to regulate Hoodia have thus had to take into consideration both the conservation and trade aspects of Hoodia use, as well as the emerging legal arena of ‘access and benefit sharing’, concerned with the rights of indigenous peoples, and ways in which benefits arising from the commercial use of traditional knowledge and genetic resources should be fairly distributed.
