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Fuelling the debate on Access and Benefit Sharing

13th April 2011

The debate over Access and Benefit Sharing in the Convention on Biological Diversity is continuing, and one of the opponents, Dr Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, Senior Fellow Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, in India, expresses his view in an article published in Economic and Political Weekly entitled ‘Biological Diversity: A common Heritage’:

'As human biology is in no way determined by the political boundaries of nation states, tags of nationality cannot be attached to plants or animals or the genetic diversity that man has been conserving over generations. Developing nations should realise that a system of royalties for use of genetic resources through multinational arrangements would only heighten the mistrust and chaos. Despite being associated with geopolitical entities historically, genetic resources should be treated as a common heritage in the best interests of humanity.'

For the full article (PDF): http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15899.pdf

 

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