Intelectual property an issue for Biodiversity

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is to take part in the third Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biodiversity, in the hope of obtaining international agreement on better protection of its natural wealth.

The eleven-day conference opens Monday in Buenos Aires.

Aca Sugandhi, first assistant to the Minister of Environment, noted the importance of the coming discussion, which will focus on intellectual property rights, for Indonesia to prevent the exploitation of its natural resources by other countries.

"It's no use being affluent in biodiversity when we only watch other countries reap the benefit," Aca said in a discussion held by the Antara news agency yesterday. The other speakers yesterday were environmentalists Setijati Sastrapraja from the Kehati Foundation and Hira Jhamtani from Konphalindo.

Aca pointed out that Indonesians are not yet aware of the country's wealth of biodiversity and how it can be exploited by countries with more advanced technology.

One of the most often quoted examples of such exploitation is how Indonesia, lacking in technology, sells raw materials such as rain forest plants to countries with the capacity to process them into medicines. The processed goods are then resold to Indonesia.

"Isn't it remarkable that we, whose land contains great natural wealth, are still living in poverty when technologically developed countries manage to exploit our natural wealth." Aca added.

Vandana Shiva, a noted Indian environmentalist who wrote the book "Biodiversity: A Third World Perspective," has estimated that the value of raw materials collected for free from the developing countries in the South for pharmaceutical industries in rich countries in the North could reach US$47 billion by 2000.

The convention, issued at the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil and already ratified by 154 countries, encourages cooperation in the transfer of technology to conserve natural resources. The first conference was held in 1994 in the Bahamas and the second last year in Jakarta, chaired by Indonesian Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

Last year's conference failed to agree on "safety procedures", "biosafety protocols" and the use of biotechnology, particularly genetic engineering.

According to Aca, the government needs to educate both the general public and government officials about biodiversity.

Aca and the other speakers agreed that the Buenos Aires conference is likely to see controversies over international regulations to ensure safety in the use, transfer and handling of genetic engineering, known as the "biosafety protocol."

Hira Jhamtani charged that wealthier nations often sought to buy sample species, which they later process, from botanical gardens instead of settling deals, and therefore face intellectual property rights restrictions. (14)