Resources vulnerable in rush to new frontiers
Resources vulnerable in rush to new frontiers
JAKARTA (JP): The rapid growth of "biodiversity prospecting" in the search for new medicines and better agricultural crops must be balanced by a sound law which guarantees the conservation of natural resources, an expert says.
"This 'gene rush' could wreak havoc on ecosystems and the people living in or near them," said Aprilani Soegiarto, a member of the National Research Council during the International Forum on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Tropical Resources.
The three-day forum, held at the Agency for Technology Assessment and Application, was attended by scientists from Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and Indonesia.
"Biodiversity prospecting" has become an increasingly popular term over the last couple of decades, describing the search for wild species whose genes could hold new promise in the fields of medicine and agriculture.
"Unfortunately, this 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 it," Aprilani said.
In his keynote address yesterday, State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie admitted that no specific law overseeing the scientific aspects of development exist at the moment. He assured the forum, however, that one would soon be made.
"Its not that I have been ignorant about the issue... Its just that we have to be very careful when formulating a law. Once it is passed, it is very difficult to change," he said.
Policy vacuum
If such a law was issued, he said: "It is most important that it benefit the public. The public, and no one else".
Aprilani, who is also vice chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, pointed out that countries need to begin filling in the policy vacuum to minimize the side effects of bio- resource exploitation.
If carried out correctly, he said, biodiversity prospecting could contribute greatly to environmentally-sound development and benefit everyone, especially farmers, forest dwellers and the indigenous people who maintain the resources.
"But carried out in the mode of previous resource-exploitation ventures, it could have a negligible or potentially harmful effect on biodiversity conservation and environmentally sound development," he warned.
Aprilani also pointed out the need for the government to oversee the question of equity distribution between those who live in the center of the bio-resources and those who have the technology and wealth to exploit them.
"Ideally, the rural communities should also have the right to regulate and charge fees for access to the bio-resources that surround them and to be compensated for their intellectual contribution to the discovery and development of new products," he said.(pwn)