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)