As a number of important internacional negotiations on agricultural biodiversity get underway, there is a political challenge to achieve a central position for the role and contribution of Third World countries and resource-poor farmers in the management of plant genetic resources.
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The agrobiotech industry has finally started to bring its genetically modified products to the market, and, to smooth their path, it is concentrating its lobbying efforts in two main areas: deregulating the use and release of genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs) and minimising the labelling of its products.
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While companies like Shaman Pharmaceuticals use the traditional knowledge of indigenous and local communities as part of their research strategies, the question remains as to whether the commercialisation of traditional genetic resources benefits those communities and biodiversity conservation.
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As chemical pesticides are increasingly rejected, the agrochemical industry is rushing to develop alternatives suiting its corporate interests. Side-stepping predicted resistance problems, it is focusing investment on Bacillus thuringiensis. An update.
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As it was seen at COP II in Jakarta, the Convention on Biological Diversity seems to be slowly moving towards the incorporation of some of the concerns of indigenous and local communities.
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The discovery of anti-malarian activity in a plant used by the Onge tribe for medicinal purposes may lead to its expropriation unless India's government takes immediate measures.
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Since the Internet is also providing information in the area of plant genetic resources, Seedling will be including a regular part on the Internet in our section "Resources & Documentation".
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As an alternative to Northern-style IPRs, GRAIN argues for a local community rights regime based on Heritage, Territoriality and Communality, which would be constructed into both the Biodiversity Convention and the FAO Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources.
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