Cosmetics...
"Feel the power of real cold-pressed argan oil"
Pharmaceuticals...
"Specially developed to help soothe and relax your baby."
Cleaning products...
"...removes tough stains like tomato sauce."
Many of them contain ingredients originally derived from nature.
And why not?
I mean there's a lot we can learn from the environment.
It's not that simple.
Over the last decades, companies and institutions
have claimed natural compounds and substances as their own.
And hijacked the knowledge of how to use them.
They have profited – some think to the tune
of billions of dollars.
Who's paying the price?
Welcome to the world of biopiracy.
"Man the guns."
Now if you think of the word piracy – this is probably where you'll end up.
But biopiracy hasn't always been as obvious as that.
To talk about biopiracy, we first have
to take a step back in history.
"It's been happening for centuries."
That's Daniel Robinson, scientist and author
of the book Confronting Biopiracy.
While pirates were pillaging ships sailing across the high seas, European nations –
Spain,
Great Britain,
Germany
and other global empires – were practising a form of piracy of their own:
"This sort of idea started with the spice trade
from the early colonial powers going around the world
and colonizing other countries and regions
and appropriating their resources."
Coffee...
Sugar...
Cocoa...
Luxury goods of the time were simply taken
and traded from colonies in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Many colonies were relinquished by the mid 20th century.
But it did not bring an end to companies
and rich nations taking advantage of biological resources,
like Tamarind, Hoodia and Maca and indigenous knowledge in the Global South.
In fact, the commercialisation of biological
materials for medicines, cosmetics and agriculture –
well, it's a booming business.
The pharmaceutical industry alone is worth an estimated 1.42 trillion dollars.
Many drugs available on the market contain ingredients derived from nature.
Bioprospecting is defined in a United Nations document as the
"exploration of plant and animal species for the utilization of their genetic resources".
It basically describes companies and institutions
looking for new natural substances to use in their products.
"In recent decades, it's pharmaceutical companies,
it's biotech companies,
big agricultural companies or chemical companies
as well that are claiming intellectual property
rights relating to a lot of the research
and development that they've been doing."
And they're doing that through patents.
The idea is that new inventions cost companies time and money in research.
To help them make that back, patents give them exclusive rights over their
innovation for a set period of time.
Let's give you some examples:
The design for the electric lightbulb – was first protected by a patent 1880.
Who doesn't love Velcro?
Well, it was first patented in Switzerland in 1954.
Even the "slide to unlock" action on older Apple smartphones is protected by a patent.
"It is important that we should have a patent system
also where the industries are appreciated for their research."
That's Suvarna Pandey, associate partner
at Indian-based law firm RNA, Technology and IP Attorneys.
But it becomes more problematic when traditional
knowledge of communities is involved.
Take the neem tree.
Known as the "tree of life" in India,
it has vast medicinal and healing properties.
And it can also be used to make organic pesticides and fungicides.
In 1995, US multinational WR Grace was granted
a European patent for neem oil used as part of
its organic fungicide Neemix –
a brand worth over $60 million per year, according to a 2008 report.
Indigenous communities in India had already been using
neem oil as a fungicide for centuries –
but others profited from their knowledge.
The appropriation and commercialization
of genetic resources, like plant extracts, and
indigenous knowledge for profit – this is where
bioprospecting can turn into biopiracy.
Companies use patents to protect innovations without fair
compensation for the communities where the
genetic material and knowledge comes from.
"There should be a balance between the advancement in
technology and also what is our traditional knowledge.
It should be preserved. It should not be misappropriated."
It took 10 years for the European patent on
use of the neem compound to be overturned.
But this is far from a typical outcome for indigenous communities.
They often lack the funds and support to fight patents.
And there are other problems, too.
It can also be harmful to biodiversity.
Hoodia gordonii is a plant found in South Africa.
It's like a cactus, essentially.
It does not look appetizing, which is pretty fitting,
because hoodia is a natural appetite suppressant.
The San people of the region used the plant to
keep them going while hunting.
But its properties made it very attractive for business research.
South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
used the plant extract to formulate the molecule P57
as a hunger suppressant for treating obesity in the 1990s.
The centre patented the molecule and licenced
it to multinational pharma company Pfizer,
and then UK-based biotech Phytopharm.
No credit was given to the San people. And:
"There was so much interest and hype about this,
the patents and the research it was in newspapers –
it was reported globally – that it was decimated by opportunists.
So people came out and sort of decided they
were going to make money off of the removal
of this plant and the sale of this plant."
Hoodia has had to be protected in South Africa and Namibia.
Illegal harvesting is among one of the main threats against the plant.
It took until the early 2000s for the San people to become aware of the CSIR patent.
With help from NGOs, the community successfully
campaigned for the role of their
traditional knowledge to be acknowledged.
Under a benefit sharing agreement, they were
to receive milestone and royalty payments.
It's not clear how many cases of biopiracy there have been.
The United Nations has tried to instigate a
solution under its Convention on Biological Diversity.
The aim of the Nagoya Protocol is to share
benefits from bioprospecting with indigenous communities.
"There's a growing recognition in general
that the whole issue of nature and biodiversity is important.
And it's important because consumers are more and more
interested in more aware and asking questions."
That's Rik Kutsch Lojenga,
Executive Director of the Union on Ethical Biotrade.
It's a membership-based organization that helps companies comply
with the protocol and awards them with a certification on their product if they do.
But specifics on requirements are set by the
country where the biological material is collected.
"This can be tricky.
Some countries have no requirements,
others require permits for research or formulation..."
"A lot of these regulations are still new,
are still under development, or sometimes unclear."
There are research institutions and companies
trying to comply with the rules.
But some still circumvent regulations.
Sometimes this is due to naivete, but sometimes it's
researchers willing to take the risk.
Still, on land, there is a framework.
One that extends around 200 nautical miles from a nation's border into the ocean.
Beyond is a new frontier for exploration –
and potential exploitation.
"Areas beyond national jurisdiction cover around
two-thirds of the ocean. So it's the majority.
That's Robert Blasiak, a researcher specialising
in issues surrounding marine genetic resources.
"There is no regulation on accessing the genetic
resources and there's no obligation to share any
benefits from the use of those genetic resources.
The high seas offer an abundance of possibilities.
Revenue from seabed mining alone could
be worth billions of euros – you can
see our video on the Secret Race to Buy the Ocean Floor to find out more about that.
Marine organisms can live in extreme pressure, temperatures, darkness.
Animals like sponges produce chemicals that have the potential to treat cancer.
The global market projected for marine biotechnology by 2025 is
$6.4 billion – with the potential for use in
pharmaceuticals, chemical and biofuel industries.
Nations are currently trying to figure out
how to share the ocean's resources equitably.
Countries in the Global South don't want to be left behind.
According to a study conducted by Blasiak in 2018,
of a database holding almost 13,000 patented genetic
sequences from 862 marine animals –
actors from just 10 countries had registered
98% of the patents.
And 47% of the patents were registered
by just one company – German chemical giant BASF.
"These are people who should be in the room.
They're able to explain why these resources
are of interest, why they're useful for developing
these new things that benefit humanity.
And yes, they keep this company ticking.
I mean, it is it is economics as well.
But I think the question is more of why aren't
more companies involved?
Why aren't more countries represented?"
Biodiscovery, bioprospecting – however, you want to call it –
to make scientific and technological advancements –
well, it's clear that we need it.
"It has very, very significantly contributed to
kind of human, human well-being.
If you look at all kinds of medicines, they are based on natural
remedies, they are based on bio prospecting.
So bio prospecting is perfect, is important,
will remain very important in the future."
But it has to be done in a way that is fair
to the biodiversity-rich nations
where these solutions are found.
One way is by creating guidelines on
what can be patented and how.
Another has been pioneered in India,
where biopiracy once ran rampant.
The traditional knowledge digital library:
"Whenever any invention is filed for the patent,
then the patent office will search whether this
particular property or this particular
plant was already known or not known."
Companies and research institutions
should work with indigenous and local researchers, developers and marketers.
Working together gives both local communities
and companies alike the opportunity to profit.
It also ensures the protection of the species –
providing us with the means to make advancements
in technology, health, food security and beyond.
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