The News Mexico
February 19, 2002
By Mark Stevenson

Mexico, China, Brazil, India and eight of the world's most "biodiverse" countries signed an alliance in Cancun Monday to fight biopiracy and press for rules protecting their people's rights to genetic resources found on their land.

The declaration -- also signed by representatives of Indonesia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, Peru, Venezuela and South Africa -- echoed complaints long voiced by Indians and environmentalists: that wealthy nations are "prospecting" for species in order to patent or sell them without offering concessions or benefits for local people.

"Up to now, our nations have not benefited from this great wealth because there hasn't been an equal sharing between the nations involved nor with the rural and Indian groups that use and protect biodiversity," said Mexican Environment Secretary Victor Lichtinger.

Together, the 12 nations in the alliance -- that account for 70 percent of the world's biodiversity -- said they would press for more equal trade rules on patenting and registering products based on plant and animal resources.

Formed in the resort city of Cancun and formally known as the Group of Allied Mega-Biodiverse Nations, the alliance pledged to press their cause at this summer's UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August.

Corporations that make medicines from naturally-occurring plant derivatives, or secure patents on genetic modifications of those species, have raised fears that the people who first showed scientists where to find those plants could lose the right to use them, or any profits from their use.

For example, farmers in Mexico -- where corn originated 4,000 years ago -- were disturbed to find their plants had been accidentally contaminated by genetically modified corn. They were even more outraged to hear that U.S. companies might want to charge them for use of those strains.

While intellectual property rights and protection for biodiverse areas are at the heart of the alliance, Mexico's Environment Secretary said it had no immediate information on what mechanism the group proposes regarding patents and compensation.

"The new rules should include, among other things, certifying the legal possession of biological material, and informed consent and mutually agreeable terms for transferring it," the countries' joint statement said.

Both supporters and detractors of bioprospecting claim the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity, an international treaty designed to protect host countries and Indian communities, is riddled with loopholes and has been poorly implemented. The United States never ratified the convention.

"We neither have the internal mechanisms nor the international accords needed to guarantee an equitable use of genetic resources," Lichtinger told the founding meeting.

Biodiversity is a measure of plant and animal species found only in limited ranges. A mega-biodiverse country is one that contains a wide range of ecosystems, or many species found only there.