Fruitful deliberations
they might well be the modern-day buccaneers. To further their research, agricultural and pharmaceutical companies often tap local communities for traditional knowledge relating to the use of biological resour ces. The conglomerates lose no time in appropriating this painstakingly assimilated information. And make a fast buck by developing products based on these stolen ideas.
How can this profit-making voyage be steered so that local communities, too get their share? In other words, how best can access to such knowledge and biological resources by companies be controlled to prevent their theft or ‘biopiracy’?
Two conferences made headway on this issue recently