Digital twist to biopiracy

fairly and equitably. Countries, including Malaysia, have enacted national access and benefit sharing (ABS) laws to implement this treaty. Developing countries thus expect to generate considerable wealth from the use of their rich biodiversity.

However, a new technology makes it possible to bypass access to the actual physical resource – through digital sequence information (DSI). Now the sequencing of the genetic make-up of a biological resource can be done and stored digitally in data bases. This DSI can then be accessed by corporations and manipulated to create high economic value products such as vaccine viruses. And exchanged across borders without the physical biological material changing hands. This circumvents the mandatory prior informed consent of the country of the original resource; as well as the mandatory obligation to share benefits with the country or the indigenous community supplying the traditional knowledge of the use of the material.

A 2018 study on the use of DSI on genetic resources in Germany noted that a majority of researchers said that it was not fair to give benefits in exchange for access to DSI or data; and opted for having “free, easy and unrestricted access to DSI”. Most respondents disagreed strongly with the idea of paying for access. Most respondents disagreed strongly with the statement that “countries that provide genetic resources should get something when DSI/data from those genetic resources are used for basic research”.

Because most parties assumed that the treaty was based on physical access, most countries enacted laws and policies predicated on the physical transfer of the material. These laws are clearly in danger of becoming irrelevant as more and more users access DSI. This seriously undermines the international protocol as well as national laws. And poses an existential threat to international, regional and national laws and policies. Exacerbated by the accelerated speed with which sequencing can be accomplished; as well as the reduced cost of such sequencing.

Developing countries have flagged this as a serious issue that needs to be addressed – since 2012 at every meeting of the international ABS-related meetings.

This issue has assumed a particularly urgent importance at the ongoing UN Biodiversity Conference at the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh.

The Like Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMC) representing the 17 developing countries holding the world’s greatest biodiversity, and presently chaired by Malaysia, have taken a strong stand against DSI being accessed to subvert international and national ABS laws.

In this context LMMC will be strongly advocating in the DSI negotiations, the following:

That the creation of DSI requires initial access to a physical genetic resource;

Therefore benefits arising from the utilisation of DSI should be shared fairly and equitably in accordance with the imperatives of international treaties;

The sharing must be done such as to benefit indigenous peoples and local communities conserving biological diversity; to serve as an incentive for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Unless this issue is resolved satisfactorily to ensure fairness and equity in the use of genetic resources and traditional knowledge accessed from developing countries, the ugly spectre of biopiracy will be resurrected. Reminiscent of the time when colonial powers, through conquest and manipulation, plundered our resources. This time through technology.