Bioprospecting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bioprospecting is

the collecting and testing of biological samples (plants, animals, micro-organisms)
and the collecting of indigenous knowledge to help in discovering and exploiting genetic or biochemical resources

Bioprospecting has primarily economic purposes (e.g., new drugs, crops, industrial products)

Before 1992, biological resources were considered a common heritage of humankind. Scientists could take samples from anywhere in the world without any specific permission.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992) re-affirms the sovereign rights of countries over the biological resources within their borders. Though not granted property upon natural resources, biodiversity-rich countries are committed to :

conserve their biodiversity
develop it for sustainable use
share fairly the benefits resulting from this use

In short, bioprospecting has to be allowed by the biodiversity-rich country and must benefit it (and the communities that traditionally use these resources) as well as the corporations (usually from developed countries) or universities collecting the bioresource.

Bioprospecting must follow the new rules of international treaties and national laws. More specifically, it must respect

informed consent (the source country must know what will be done with the resource, and how benefits will be shared; and must give permission for collecting)
fair agreement on benefit sharing (benefits may include support for conservation, research, equipment, technologies, knowledge transfer, development, royalties)

Bioprospecting may be considered as biopiracy when these principles are not respected. Some even argue bilateral agreements of bioprospecting between a country or a community and a corporation are a sort of juridical validation of biopiracy toward traditional communities whose values and rights are not considered and respected.