Biodiversity Conservation Network
20. Biodiversity Prospecting in the Coral Reefs of Fiji
Location: Uncunivanua Village, Fiji Partners: University of the South Pacific (USP)
The Rainforest Alliance
SPACHEEProject Title: Natural Product Development and Conservation in Fiji BCN Funding: Currently being negotiated. Grant Period: Currently being negotiated.
Project Overview
Fiji, like many of the islands of the South Pacific, is home to large numbers of rare and endemic species in its forest and marine areas. Fiji has one of the best developed coral reef systems in the Pacific. Fiji's biodiversity is especially threatened due to increasing harvesting pressures and deforestation which has decreased terrestrial habitats and increased siltation of coral reefs.The University of the South Pacific (USP) and its partners are working to help community members enhance their economic returns from their marine and terrestrial resources by developing a biological prospecting agreement between local residents and pharmaceutical companies. Partners are working with the community members to: 1) develop an equitable prospecting agreement, 2) set up a procedure to collect and process samples, and 3) develop biological and social monitoring systems to ensure that the project is helping to conserve biodiversity while meeting the needs of the people.
Over the past several years, there has been a growing interest in the concept of "biodiversity prospecting," which involves setting up agreements between tropical countries and multi-national pharmaceutical companies. In general, the company compensates the country for the intellectual property rights contained in its biodiversity in return for exclusive rights to screen the biodiversity for pharmaceutical compounds. If such screening leads to the development of a major drug, the agreements then also generally provide the host country with some share of the potential profits. The agreements completed to date -- such as the one signed with INBio in Costa Rica -- have generally been signed at the national level. The USP represents an opportunity for partners and BCN to contribute to this debate by focusing prospecting on community level links to conservation. In addition, as Fiji is a relatively small country and the project participants have close contacts with relevant government officials, the project has a good deal of potential to influence government policy regarding prospecting issues. Furthermore, given that USP plays a central role for students from throughout the Pacific Region, the policy implications will undoubtedly be carried to the other countries in the region as well.
1996 Accomplishments
Discussions aimed toward finalizing a bioprospecting contract with Smith Kline Beecham continued and was nearing completion when the company management closed down their natural products research division. An emergency search for a new enterprise partner has located the Strathclyde Institute of Drug Research and the final draft of a bioprospecting agreement is under consideration. Discussions of these proposals with the government of Fiji has facilitated their development of a draft bioprospecting policy as required under the Convention on Biological Diversity.Work in the project communities has involved a number of workshops and meetings using participatory methods to help communities prioritize their development needs and also discuss resource management concerns. This has led to several measures taken to conserve marine resources such as banning the issuance of fishing licenses, a ban on killing turtles and use of gill nets and size limits to catches. Biological and socioeconomic monitoring plans have also been developed.
Success Stories
Participatory rural assessment methods have been used in communities in the Verata area in Fiji to help villages prioritize development needs. Exercises are conducted in which members of the community map their village, do transects, make time lines of important events and identify perceived problems and discuss how to solve them. Common problems identified are a lack of land for expanding villages and unreliable water supplies. A unique feature of the workshop was the videotaping of the exercises which were then edited and shared with the communities.
Challenges
The overwhelming challenge in the last year was to quickly find a replacement bioprospecting partner when Smith Kline Beecham Pharmaceutical company suddenly closed down their natural products drug discovery division in June. Fortunately, project partner the Rainforest Alliance had set up as part of the project an international reference group of people interested in bioprospecting. An SOS letter was sent to these people who suggested many possibilities. Most prospects either do not pay sample fees or were committed to a work program for 1996-1997. Fortunately the Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research is expanding its activities of supplying extracts to drug companies and hopefully will satisfy the enterprise requirement of the project.
 |
WHY BIODIVERSITY FIELD STORIES PARTICIPATE RESULTS MARKETSPACE ABOUT THE NETWORK WHAT'S NEW LEARNING MATERIALS SEARCH LINKS SITE MAP HOME |