Commercial Use of Biodiversity: Resolving the Access and Benefit Sharing Issues

This book provides insights to various stakeholders for making the commercial use of biodiversity a gainful enterprise for both the poor and the rich. The benefits from genetic resources are mostly drawn from the commercial use of traditional knowledge held by indigenous communities. This book discusses the issues of access to these resources and the equitable sharing of benefits drawn from them by examining a range of worldwide biodiversity prospecting partnerships. It underlines the acrimonious debates between technology-rich developed countries and biodiversity-rich developing countries. Additionally, assessing the bargaining power of developing countries and the emerging biodiversity laws, it highlights the 'thinking globally, acting locally' principle and urges for access and benefit sharing to be evolved as a new discipline of study. The book will prove beneficial to all stakeholders involved in the business of the world's biodiversity.