Rich countries must stump up for life on Earth, says Malaysia

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http://www.enn.com/news/2004-02-19/s_13267.asp

 

Rich countries must stump up for life on Earth, says

Malaysia

 

Thursday, February 19, 2004

By Patrick Chalmers, Reuters

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Rich countries looking to

stem the loss of plants and animals on Earth and to

profit from their genes must stump up the money,

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said

on Wednesday.

 

" They reap the harvest but are unwilling to share the

benefits with the countries that own the biological

resources, " Najib said in a speech to dozens of

environment ministers from around the world.

 

Najib, whose country is host to two weeks of talks

under the United Nations Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD), said industries in developed nations

that are keen to exploit resources held by poorer

countries must be willing to pay.

 

" This attitude and mindset of companies from developed

countries towards the sharing of wealth must come

about if we are to move forward on biodiversity

conservation and on development of nature's full

potential, " he said in his opening address.

 

Malaysia, a tropical Southeast Asian nation, is one of

around a dozen so-called mega-diverse countries around

the world that are home to exceptional numbers of

species. Its forests harbor rare tigers, orangutans,

and elephants among 286 identified species of mammals

as well as thousands of flowering plants and tens of

thousands of invertebrates. Off its coasts lie some

the world's richest coral reef systems.

 

But like nearly all such nations it is also a

developing country, albeit a relatively rich one,

meaning conservation is not top priority. Local

environmentalists accuse it of over-logging forests,

converting too much land to oil palm plantations or

development, and ignoring indigenous peoples' rights.

 

" On an international scale, our record's pretty good

in terms of the indigenous people, " Najib told a later

news conference, though he conceded more could be

done.

 

The CBD is intended to significantly slow the rate of

global extinctions by 2010, a goal its parties have

yet to tie down given universal ignorance over how

many species exist.

 

Talks since February 10, due to end on Friday, come

under its broad goals of conserving biodoversity,

ensuring the sustainable use of genetic resources and

regulating the share of benefits that arise from them.

 

Tricky issues remain on how to govern protected areas

around the world, with countries arguing over the best

ways to establish and pay for them, while also

allowing the people living inside or around park

boundaries to earn a living.

 

Delegates are also at odds on how to grant researchers

access to biological resources and to ensure benefits

are shared with those who own them or passed on

traditional knowledge about their use. Commercial

patents on medicinal plants and traditional foods,

dubbed " biopiracy " by pressure groups, have been a big

problem in the past.

 

Indigenous communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin

America have protested that many violate patent law,

saying they cover crops and medicines developed from

plant varieties originally bred by them.

 

Environment group Greenpeace last month challenged a

patent that the European Patent Office had granted to

U.S. agro-chemical giant Monsanto on a type of wheat.

 

Source: Reuters

 

 

 

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