Bill to protect ‘green gold’ progressing |30 May 2005

Companies are exploring what many consider the “last frontier” for the Earth’s natural resources – tapping genetics through biotechnology – to produce products like shampoo, creams and even curing ailments, said Didier Dogley, the director general for nature conservation in the Department of Environment.

The proposed bill aims to safeguard Seychelles’ biological resources, or “green gold,” by requiring companies to seek permission before they can prospect here for genetic makeup that could translate into a useful or even life-changing product.

Perhaps the most famous example has been periwinkle from Madagascar, which has been used to treat some forms of cancer.

“This is the resource of today and tomorrow,” Mr Dogley said.

The bill would recognise that the genetic makeup of all native fauna and flora in Seychelles lawfully belonged to the sovereignty of the country. And if passed, companies could be asked to pay an up-front fee for the right to “bio-prospect,” or even to pay royalties on profits from a product that was to use Seychelles-owned genes.

Through the International Plant Genetics Resources Institute (IPGRI), the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources held two weeks of meetings earlier this month involving several international lawyers, local agricultural and marine resources officials and reps from Legal Affairs and the Seychelles Bureau of Standards.

The workshop set out to fine-tune some aspects of the proposed bill, Mr Dogley said.

IPGRI apparently considered Seychelles an ideal place to realise such a law, in that it is a small country without many layers of administration at federal and state levels.

Local officials have been working on variations of the bill since 2000. It could be put up for approval in the National Assembly perhaps by early next year.

While the genes of the Coco de mer – which some have considered an aphrodisiac in the past – may seem like an ideal candidate with which a bio-tech company could experiment, terrestrial plants are not necessarily Seychelles’ best bets to discover green gold.

Officials are hoping that Seychelles’ vast marine area could actually be home to new genetic discoveries. Even something as simple as an underwater bacterial species that could clean clothes better may turn out “to revolutionise the way we live,” Mr Dogley said.

And the spoils could be lucrative. Companies have shelled out as much as US $100,000 up front to some countries simply for the right to look for potentially profitable genes.

Mr Dogley said there have already been companies to approach Seychelles about bio-prospecting. So far all offers have been denied, but he added that dialogue was still ongoing and once the bill is in place, the door could open to more genetic exploration.

A stake in the green gold industry may not be completely free of hiccups, however, as a local law would have its limitations on an international scale.

While an international regime to govern biological resources has been talked about, Mr Dogley said many developed countries and large corporations have been reluctant to push the process forward and that there’s “not much momentum.”

However, the real threat of “bio-piracy” is not likely to come from large companies, but tiny, unknown bio-tech firms whose main aim is to strike it big with a product and then sell out to the highest bidder.

“A lot of big companies don’t want to see their name dragged through the mud” and in most cases would likely be willing to reach a deal, he said.