Bioscience and Biopolitics at a Crossroads

Photo: Rachel Wynberg

The access and benefit sharing (ABS) policy process, and wider discussions about the ethical and conservation issues arising from the commercial use of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, depend upon a well-developed understanding of the activities known broadly as ‘bioprospecting’. Located at the interface of leading genetic and information technologies, and the juncture of a wide range of ethical and political concerns, bioprospecting has sparked the public and policy imagination in recent decades.

It promises healthcare, food, industrial processing, and other advances that generate significant benefits for society, financial returns for the companies that market products, and a range of benefits for countries that provide genetic resources. However, those involved in commercialising genetic resources currently find themselves in an environment characterised by misunderstanding, mistrust and regulatory confusion. The ABS policy process has raised a range of concerns around issues such as the role of science and technology in society, ethics in research practices, indigenous peoples’ rights, and exploitation of the biologically-diverse South by the industrial and colonising North.

A recurring problem with the ABS policy process in the last few decades is limited understanding of the science and technology that underpin bioprospecting, and the market, industry and societal trends that drive demand for access to genetic resources and shape benefit-sharing. To address this gap, research is being conducted, in collaboration with the United Nations University and Sarah Laird, Director of People and Plants International, to produce a two-volume book titled Bioscience and Biopolitics at a Crossroads: The Commercial Use of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge.

The first volume is well underway and will provide information and insight into current practices and trends in biodiversity research and bioprospecting. It will present basic background information, and will also explore - through a range of case studies and contributions - extraordinary developments in these fields of research, many of which should change the way regulation of these resources is commonly viewed, and provide a glimpse of where today’s trends are likely to take us in the coming years.

This project builds on the 2008 study Access and Benefit Sharing in Practice: Trends in Partnerships Across Sectors, commissioned by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2008 (See archive).