12 - Geopolitics of Biological Prospecting: Emerging Perspectives on Antarctica and the Southern [Indian] Ocean

Summary

Bioprospecting is an inappropriate term and an inappropriate process. It is derived from prospecting for minerals and fossil fuels. However, unlike fossil fuels, living resources are not useless unless exploited by global commercial interests for global markets. Biodiversity is the basis of living cultures. It is the foundation of the living economies of two-thirds of humanity, who depend on biodiversity for their livelihoods and needs.

(Shiva 2007, p. 307)

Bioprospectors are starting to turn their attention to many of the world's last frontiers, such as hydrothermal vents, the deep seabed, the water column of the high seas and polar ice caps. Indeed, these frontiers have the potential to create a 21st Century “gold rush” — with bioprospectors trying to find and exploit the unique genetic and biochemical riches of “extremophiles,” organisms that have evolved unique characteristics to survive in Earth's most hostile environment.

(Zakri and Johnston 2004)

INTRODUCTION

One of the major attractions of Antarctica lies in its extreme geographical location, its exceptional wildlife, and flora. Antarctica's rich biodiversity has of late invited attention not only of the scientific community, but also the commercial-corporate sector. The complex issues related to the emergence of bioprospecting as a “new frontier” for commercially-driven scientific research in the pristine and fragile ecology of Antarctica, and the current inadequacy of the Antarctica Treaty System (ATS) to regulate bioprospecting in the southern polar region, demand serious consideration by India and other countries of the Indian Ocean region. The Indian Ocean and its three most important coastal and marine ecosystems (namely mangroves, sea grass beds, and coral reefs) support and sustain the region's fisheries by functioning as nurseries and feeding grounds for many commercial species. These marine ecosystems, currently threatened by a number of factors, also sustain the livelihood of coastal communities along the Indian Ocean (Basiron and Zubir 2007).