Bioprospecting: Creating a Value for Biodiversity

Bioprospecting is the exploration of biological material for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical properties (Reid et al., 1993). This chapter will focus on the search for activities that could form the basis of new pharmaceuticals. Historically, most of the active ingredients in medicines have been natural products (Sneader, 1996), and natural products continue to form a productive source of new drugs (Newman and Cragg, 2007; Butler, 2008). Given that most drug discovery activity takes place in companies in the developed world and that most biodiversity is found in countries of the southern hemisphere, there needs to be a means whereby access to biodiversity is possible under terms and conditions that are mutually acceptable. After hundreds of years of unregulated collection of samples for many different purposes, the United Nations produced a framework for preserving the world’s biodiversity while encouraging the sustainable use of biodiversity. This Convention on Biological Diversity has been widely accepted, and it is discussed in the following section. The chapter will continue with descriptions of various attempts to calculate an economic value for biodiversity, followed by an outline of current bioprospecting practices.