- Question: What is biodiversity and what is its status?
- Answer: Biodiversity is the totality of genes, species, and ecosystems in a region (or in the world). It can also be defined as the variety and variability of life. At the present time, the world is experiencing a tremendous loss of biodiversity primarily due to the conversion and degradation of natural habitats. Scientists estimate that roughly 10 million species inhabit the earth (and roughly half of these are thought to live in tropical forests). Roughly 5 to 10 percent of tropical forest species may face extinction in the next 30 years. In the U.S., more than 750 species are currently listed as threatened or endangered.
- Question: What are genetic resources?
- Answer: Genetic resources are the genes found in plants and animals that are of actual or potential value to people. (The term is also used to refer to chemicals found in plants and animals, since
these are based on genetic information.) Through the use of new biotechnologies, genes from any plant or animal can be transferred to another. Plant and animal breeders, for example, use genes found in wild species, and genetically engineered organisms are now being used for new industrial applications such as mining, wastewater treatment, and carbon-dioxide scrubbing. The different biochemicals produced by species are of considerable value in the pharmaceutical and pesticide industries.
- Question: What is biodiversity prospecting?
- Answer: Biodiversity prospecting is the exploration of wild plants and animals for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources.
- Question: Why did World Resources Institute, Costa Rica’s National Biodiversity Institute (INBio), Rainforest Alliance, and the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), undertake the study, Biodiversity Prospecting: Using Genetic Resources for Sustainable Development?
- Answer: The number of biodiversity prospecting ventures is growing rapidly. The flurry of
interest and enthusiasm in biodiversity prospecting is taking place in a policy vacuum. Virtually no precedent exists for national policies and legislation to govern and regulate wildland biodiversity prospecting. Done well, biodiversity prospecting can contribute greatly to environmentally sound development and return benefits to the custodians of genetic resources.
But carried out in the mold of previous resource-exploitation ventures, biodiversity prospecting can have a negligible or potentially harmful effect on biodiversity conservation and environmentally sound development. Biodiversity Prospecting offers suggestions to governments, non- governmental organizations, scientists, and industry on designing effective and equitable biodiversity prospecting programs, with a particular focus on the use of biodiversity in the pharmaceutical industry. The premise of Biodiversity Prospecting is that appropriate policies and institutions are needed to ensure that the commercial value obtained from genetic and biochemical resources is a positive force for development and conservation.
- Question How do pharmaceutical companies identify new drugs?
- Answer: Pharmaceutical companies use several different methods to locate new medicines. They may:
i) synthesize chemicals based on physiological and medical knowledge of the nature of the target disease,
ii) screen chemicals randomly that are either found in nature or synthesized, or
iii) screen natural plant or animal extracts that they consider particularly likely to demonstrate activity against a specific disease based on knowledge of traditional uses of the natural product (or knowledge of the ecological role of the species).- Chemicals are “screened” across bioassays or chemical screens designed to show a positive reaction–a “hit”–for chemicals that would be effective against a specific disease. Chemicals or extracts that show positive activity are then isolated and tested first on animals and later in human clinical trials before being approved as new drugs. In the U.S., the process of drug discovery and development takes an average of 12 years and any new drug requires the investment of an average of $230 million dollars.
- Chemicals are “screened” across bioassays or chemical screens designed to show a positive reaction–a “hit”–for chemicals that would be effective against a specific disease. Chemicals or extracts that show positive activity are then isolated and tested first on animals and later in human clinical trials before being approved as new drugs. In the U.S., the process of drug discovery and development takes an average of 12 years and any new drug requires the investment of an average of $230 million dollars.
- Question: Are any current drugs derived from plants and animals?
- Answer: Yes. About 80 percent of people in developing countries still rely on traditional
medicine–based largely on species of plants and animals–for their primary health care. In the United States, some 25 percent of prescriptions are filled with drugs whose active ingredients are extracted or derived from plants. Sales of these plant-based drugs in the U.S. amounted to some $4.5 billion in 1980 and an estimated $15.5 billion in 1990. Other drugs are derived from animals and microorganisms.
- Question: What is the Biodiversity Convention?
- Answer: The international Convention on
Biological Diversity was signed by over 150 countries during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, and entered into force on December 29, 1993 (30 countries had to ratify the convention before it became law). The objectives of the convention are:
- the conservation of biodiversity,
- the sustainable use of its components, and
- the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of its use.
- To achieve these objectives, governments commit themselves to a set of activities related directly to conservation (inventory of species, establishment of protected area systems, etc.) as well as to actions to facilitate the transfer of technologies, regulate the transfer of genetic resources, and provide financial support for conservation in developing countries.
- Question: How does biodiversity prospecting relate to biodiversity conservation?
- Answer: Prior to the Convention on Biological Diversity, most countries considered genetic resources to be the “common heritage of humankind”, meaning that there was no law or moral obligation requiring a company that collected genetic material from another country to pay for access to that material. The convention, by asserting the sovereignty of nations over their biodiversity, explicitly recognizes the right of countries to establish legislation regulating access to genetic resources and, if they wish, require payment for that access. Moreover, it requires that any company or country collecting biodiversity obtain the prior informed consent of the source country. Because of the Convention, it
will soon become standard practice for collectors to pay a fee for access to biodiversity and to enter into contractual agreements with source countries (or institutions within those countries) that allocate a share of royalties (or the patent itself) to the source country.
- Question: Why did the U.S. initially refuse to sign?
- Answer: The biodiversity convention contains several confusing articles. The U.S. government, by considering the worst case interpretation of articles related to intellectual property rights
(patents) and financial mechanisms, argued in Rio that the convention would undermine the interests
of U.S. companies. The Clinton administration has reversed the U.S. position on signature, arguing
that U.S. interest can be adequately be protected under the convention and that it is an important
legal instrument that will help conserve biodiversity.
- [In 1994, ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The Committee held hearings then submitted Executive Report 103-30 to the full Senate. However, the Senate failed to bring ratification of the Convention to the floor for a vote. Because the United States has not ratified, it is considered an “observer” rather than a “party” to the Convention.]
- [In 1994, ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The Committee held hearings then submitted Executive Report 103-30 to the full Senate. However, the Senate failed to bring ratification of the Convention to the floor for a vote. Because the United States has not ratified, it is considered an “observer” rather than a “party” to the Convention.]
- Question How will the convention ensure that developing countries benefit from the use of their biodiversity?
- Answer: Developing countries may now pass legislation requiring the payment of access fees and the negotiation of royalty payments with suppliers of genetic resources. In turn, companies are required under the convention to obtain the prior informed consent of source countries when they seek access to biodiversity. (And, countries can require that companies demonstrate they received this consent when the company files for a patent on a new product.) As these national laws are adopted and enforced, agreements like the one between Merck and INBio will become the rule rather than the exception and developing countries will be assured of payments for their resources.
