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The Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association, comprising over 350 healers in South Africa's Bushbuckridge area, has established this protocol to protect their traditional knowledge and ensure the sustainable use of medicinal plants. The association highlights threats to their livelihoods, including biodiversity loss, lack of benefit-sharing from researchers, and discrimination. They advocate for secured access to medicinal plants in communal and protected areas, calling for partnerships with conservation agencies like SANParks. The protocol mandates that any access to their knowledge or biological resources by researchers or commercial bioprospectors must be approved by their Executive Committee through a process of prior informed consent, community deliberation, and ancestral consultation, adhering to both customary and South African domestic law.

The document outlines the protocols and legal framework for traditional health practitioners in the Bushbuckridge area of South Africa to manage their traditional knowledge and access to medicinal plants. It addresses challenges such as illegal harvesting, lack of recognition, and restricted access to protected areas like Kruger National Park. The association seeks formal recognition from the Department of Health and collaboration with environmental agencies to ensure sustainable use of biodiversity and fair benefit-sharing.