Preventing the exploitation of developing countries’ genetic resources is an important goal for the environment minister

Environment minister Karen Ellemann was the opening speaker on Monday for an international ministerial conference on bio-piracy in Windhoek, Namibia, aimed at stopping companies from obtaining genetic resources from countries without providing reciprocal economic benefits.

Together with the country's president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, Ellemann hopes the Danish co-sponsored conference will assist Africa in obtaining some of the significant profits from its many genetic resources often used by Western companies.

It is estimated that developing countries contain around 80 percent of the world's genetic resources found in nature.

Much of the material companies obtain is used to develop products such as cosmetics, medicines and GMOs. Bio-piracy is common in Africa, however, where large international companies typically exploit the countries resources.

According to the Environment Ministry, some companies have even gone so far as to take out patents on the development of substances that have already been used for several hundred years in traditional medicines in developing countries. One notable example was chemical company W.R. Grace’s attempted patent on products from the Indian neem tree.

‘It’s high time that we stop the worldwide exploitation of natural genes,’ said Ellemann. Developing countries’ populations must also be a part of Western companies’ profits on creams, medicines or agricultural crops, where the products were developed from those countries’ genetic resources.’

‘Fair trade would benefit both sides because it would be an incentive for developing countries to protect their rich natural resources, while the companies would be allowed to retain access to those resources,’ she said.

The conference in Windhoek, which runs from 8-11 March, aims to prepare African countries for negotiations toward an international agreement at the UN’s Biodiversity Convention, to be held in Japan in October. It is the Biodiversity Convention that determines a country’s ownership of genetic resources.

‘An international agreement would make it more expensive for companies to exploit developing countries’ genetic resources,’ said Ellemann. ‘The agreement would facilitate cooperation between rich and poor countries so that the biodiversity – which one day could lead to new breakthrough drugs or new drought-resistant crops – can be protected.’

The conference in Windhoek will feature environment ministers from 38 African states and three European ones – Denmark, Germany and Norway.

While in Namibia, Ellemann will also visit a research centre on the edge of the world’s oldest desert, the Namib Desert, where scientists are studying the area’s unique plant and animal life. The researchers hope that the organisms’ tolerance to drought and high temperatures can form the basis of new crops that can be adapted to future climates.
Copenhagen Post