From MARCUS COLCHESTER
Forest peoples may indeed be guardians of a detailed knowledge of the
curative properties of tropical forest species. And, as Chris Bird points
out (‘Medicines from the rainforest’, 17 August) there is a potential bonanza
of profits to be made by the pharmaceuticals companies in exploiting this
knowledge. But will this help these peoples, or will their knowledge be
pillaged by Western scientists without the locals seeing a penny of the
profits?
International debates about intellectual property rights are at least
drawing attention to the need for some of the profits to be paid to the
Third World countries where the knowledge originates, but that may be little
use to the local peoples themselves. Even, as in the Korup case, where some
of the profits from the drug prospecting are recycled by the World Wide
Fund for Nature back into conservation programmes, this may not benefit
the local communities. Indeed, ironically, it is exactly because the Korup
area has been designated a national park that the local peoples are being
obliged to move off their lands and settle further east.
By all means let us realise that the destruction of forests and forest
cultures implies a major loss to our global heritage, but profiting from
this heritage may not by itself ensure the survival of either. Once the
natural medicines’ active constituents are identified in the laboratories,
they are usually synthesised for the market without any need to maintain
the original species.
No wonder that forest peoples themselves are demanding secure rights
to their lands and to their intellectual property. The international community
has yet to effectively recognise either of these rights.
Advertisement
Marcus Colchester World Rainforest Movement Chadlington, Oxford
