The Courier

Fouad Maazouz (Maroc), Azzamour, Série Ici et / est l’ailleurs, Biennial of Photography, Bamako 2006.

© Fouad Maazouz

Attracting much less media attention than its climate change big-brother, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was born as a consequence of the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 – at the same time as the Convention on Climate Change. In reality, the CBD is just as broad-ranging and aspires to conserve and guarantee the sustainable use of the biological resources we depend upon for our survival on the planet. However, rather than confining itself to acting as a watchdog, the CBD has a more ambitious goal. Specifically, with the arrival of biotechnologies and the extension of property rights (including patents) in relation to living things – the CBD is calling for a legal framework to guarantee the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of genetic resources. And this applies to all kinds of resources such as plants, animal extracts and micro-organisms used to produce items such as the active ingredients in medicinal products. Consequently, in laying down this legal framework, there is a great deal at stake in both biological and economic terms.

Depletion

The Earth’s rich biological resources are becoming depleted at a significant rate, the scientific community estimating that the total number of species to have populated the Earth being as much as 10 times higher than the current number. And although the process of extinction is widely agreed to be a natural one, the rate of decline has speeded up dramatically in recent times. Certainly, evidence of human-led extinction of many living organisms has been available for over a century and it is predicted that if the present trend continues, around 50,000 species are set to disappear every year over the coming decades.

As might be expected, due to their geographical location most ACP countries have either a tropical or subtropical climate favouring the proliferation of a wide variety of species. For example, the forests of Central Africa alone are home to a wide range of flora and fauna: 400 or so mammal species, over 1,000 bird species and more than 10,000 plant species, 3,000 of which are particular to that habitat alone. Moreover, plants and animals are at their most bountiful in the steppes and the savannah, particularly in Africa, thanks to a combination of natural conditions and alternating wet and dry seasons.

Today, ACP States are working together with the EU to promote several initiatives designed to safeguard the rich continental and maritime resources. One example is the FISHBASE project for “Strengthening Fisheries and Biodiversity Management in ACP Countries”. The aim here is to provide information to help the enforcement of policies that focus on conserving aquatic biodiversity, its sustainable exploitation and the equitable sharing of the benefits in keeping with the principles governing the Biodiversity Convention. Already, the project has established three regional centres in Africa and the regional coordinators have supervised project training activities and lent support to fisheries, scientists and specialist staff.

Sharing benefits

Apart from its aim of promoting the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity, the CBD was the first international agreement to acknowledge the key role of traditional knowledge, innovation and environmental and sustainable development activities, while using intellectual property rights (IPR) and other tools to facilitate the protection process. Local communities are now seen as having a major part to play in enforcing the CBD.

Unfortunately, implementation of these basic principles has led to clashes within the international community. Firstly, the very principle of IPR has spawned a variety of interpretations. For example, the African Union (AU) has developed a model law, to provide a frame of reference for biodiversity management, particularly in the case of managing commercially relevant species: seeds for farming and species of relevance for various industries, including the pharmaceutical sector.

This law upholds the ‘farmer’s privilege', where farmers are allowed to keep some of the crops they harvest so they can be used at a later date. This privilege has become optional in other international discussions. This legislative instrument also acknowledges the part played by communities as the repositories of knowledge, reflected in royalties being paid for the use of this knowledge. Rules applied in the field in Africa are still quite rudimentary, as the authorities seem to be waiting for this issue to be settled within the context of the CBD. On that basis, they can expect a long wait as at their meeting late 2007, representatives of the 188 signatories of the Convention were still in disagreement over this question. As of now, major economic nations like Australia, New Zealand and Canada (the United States does not subscribe to the CBD) are rejecting demands by the countries in the South for access to the resources to be controlled.

Biopiracy

Countries in the South have expressed justifiable concern about their biodiversity and knowledge being taken away as a result of economic interests. Indeed, incidents of so-called ‘biopiracy’ abound, as illustrated by the following examples.

In 1995, the University of Wisconsin (United States) filed four patents for brazzein, a super-sweet, low-calorie plant. The exploitation of this plant is expected to yield profits of US$100 billion a year, according to some estimates. Brazzein berries have been grown in Gabon since time immemorial, but the country does not stand to benefit at all as the holders of the patents sold the plant operating licences to several biotech firms, none one of which is from Gabon.

In another instance in September 2007, the South African Government stepped in to ban the harvesting of pelargonium, a member of the geranium family, after hundreds of tonnes were harvested by foreign drug companies, one of which has patented its use to fight HIV/AIDS. Now the Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa has said it will review all biological prospecting projects to make sure they conform to new regulations that protect the commercial rights of traditional healers.