RI pushes for biosafety protocol completion<\/p>\n
By Gedsiri Suhartono<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, home to a large percentage of the
\nworld's wealth of biodiversity, is pushing hard for the early
\ncompletion of a biosafety protocol, crucial for protecting rare
\nspecies from commercial over-exploitation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has taken a full and active part in the series of
\ninternational conferences aimed at completing the protocol.<\/p>\n
After hosting the second one in Jakarta in December 1995,
\nState Minister of Environmental Affairs Sarwono Kusumaatmadja
\ntraveled to Buenos Aires in November for the third conference.<\/p>\n
The Biosafety Protocol is an offshoot of the Convention on
\nBiological Diversity, one of the landmark documents produced at
\nthe Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The idea for the
\nprotocol came from the conference in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Signed by 161 of the 185 United Nations members, the
\nconvention seeks to end researchers' free access to biological
\nresources by proposing agreements between researchers and the
\ngovernments where species are found, establish government control
\nand charge researchers hunting for new materials (or bio-
\nprospecting).<\/p>\n
The convention has three goals: the conservation of
\nbiodiversity, the sustainable use of resources, and the fair and
\nequitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of
\ngenetic resources.<\/p>\n
In spite of the overwhelming international support for the
\nconvention, translating commitment into action has proven arduous
\nand difficult, as shown by the slow progress drafting the
\nbiosafety protocol.<\/p>\n
Big businesses have launched a vigorous behind the scenes
\ncampaign to ensure their interests -- unimpeded access to
\nbiological species -- are protected.<\/p>\n
Governments of developing countries, where the majority of
\nspecies are grown and found, want royalties for species used.<\/p>\n
The debate is turning into a North versus South classic
\nbetween powerful multinational companies, which mostly come from
\nindustrialized countries, and governments of developing
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
In his opening speech at the third session of the Conference
\nof Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biodiversity in the
\nArgentine capital, Sarwono urged delegates to consider the
\nconvention in the broader context of international action.<\/p>\n
Sarwono told Antara that participating countries agreed the
\nprotocol needed to be completed soon, ready for discussion by the
\nnext COP, scheduled for May 1998 in Bratislava. The task of
\ndrafting the protocol is now in the hands of an ad hoc committee.<\/p>\n
The urgency certainly exists.<\/p>\n
Experts say the decline in biological species is fastest in
\nWest Asia and North Africa which, beside being rich in
\nbiodiversity, are where some of the world's highest population
\ngrowth rates are recorded.<\/p>\n
\"The current decline in biodiversity is largely the result of
\nhuman activity and represents a serious threat,\" says the Agenda
\n21, the plan of action hammered out at the 1992 Rio summit.<\/p>\n
The UN General Assembly, which is to review the progress of
\nAgenda 21 in June, will no doubt want to know how far nations
\nhave progressed in drawing up the biosafety protocol.<\/p>\n
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recorded that
\nsince the beginning of the century, about 75 percent of the
\nworld's crop plant varieties have become extinct, and around
\n500,000 varieties disappear every year.<\/p>\n
Sarwono said intellectual property rights did not receive much
\nattention in Buenos Aires. Delegates instead spent much time and
\nenergy discussing the biosafety protocol and funding.<\/p>\n
Sarwono said the conference agreed the Global Environment
\nFacility (GEF) funding mechanism should be clearly established to
\nensure even funding distribution between members.<\/p>\n
Fund allocations are often seen as partial and only to some
\ncountries, he said.<\/p>\n
Except for Nordic countries, according to Sarwono, most
\ndeveloped countries have not fully complied with the commitment
\nmade at the 1992 Earth Summit, to allocate seven percent of their
\nrespective annual GNP to fund GEF activities.<\/p>\n
Originally created in 1991 as a World Bank organ, GEF was
\nrestructured in 1996 to become a permanent financial mechanism
\nand characterized as an international organization.<\/p>\n
Hira Jhamtani, executive director of the National Consortium
\nfor Forest and Nature Conservation in Indonesia, said
\nintellectual property rights and indigenous knowledge were
\nimportant matters that should have been discussed.<\/p>\n
She said the complexity of the protocol and the short time
\nafforded for discussion had meant the two matters were barely
\ntouched on.<\/p>\n
Biological species form the key ingredients in medicines.<\/p>\n
Experts estimate about 80 percent of the world's population
\nwas at least partly dependent on traditional medicine and
\nmedicinal plants to treat their ills.<\/p>\n
The greatest botanical diversity is found primarily in the
\ndeveloping countries of the South. It is estimated that over 90
\npercent of plant species are located in Africa, Asia and Latin
\nAmerica.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is home to an estimated 30,000 plant species with
\npotential medicinal properties.<\/p>\n
Not all have been exploited for commerce, but herbal plant
\nexports reached $64 million in 1996, and are estimated to
\nincrease by 20 percent in 1997.<\/p>\n
\"There is a great demand for herbal plants in other countries
\nwhere people have begun adopting a back-to-nature lifestyle,\"
\nhead of the Indonesian association of herbal plant exporters and
\nimporters, Hartono Chandra, was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's herbs were mostly exported to Hong Kong,
\nSingapore, Germany, China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, he
\nsaid. The number of registered medicinal and herbal companies has
\nalso increased from 185 in 1989 to 490, he added.<\/p>\n
Muchsin Darise, a medical expert from Hasanuddin University in
\nSouth Sulawesi, told Antara recently 25 percent of the 30,000
\nplant species in Indonesia potentially possessed medicinal
\nproperties.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, like many other developing countries, has a stake
\nin securing a biosafety protocol because it will clearly define
\nspecies utilization and protect against piracy by industrialized
\ncountries with the technology to exploit the species.<\/p>\n
The Rural Advancement Foundation International report prepared
\nfor the United Nations Development Program in 1994 estimated that
\nif developing countries were to receive royalties for the plant
\nvarieties and indigenous knowledge that has exploited by
\nmultinational companies, their total earnings would reach $5.4
\nbillion a year.<\/p>\n
Gurdial Singh Nijar of the Third World Network in Malaysia,
\nsaid the Buenos Aires conference failed to address biotechnology,
\nsomething which developing countries had asked be discussed at
\nlast year's meeting in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Nijar told The Jakarta Post that several biotechnology
\nindustries had acted in bad faith by expediting the release of
\ngenetically modified food products while negotiations for the
\nprotocol were proceeding.<\/p>\n
\"The Industry's attitude is hardly surprising as it had
\nmounted a massive campaign in Jakarta to dissuade the parties
\nfrom acknowledging the need for a biosafety protocol,\" Nijar
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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