Antarctic treasures threatened

2004-02-03 13:31

Kuala Lumpur - A "21st Century gold rush" for Antarctica's biological treasures threatens to overwhelm international efforts to regulate their exploitation, experts warn in a United Nations University report to be released on Monday.

Bioprospectors are racing to find and exploit the genetic and biochemical riches of "extremophiles" - organisms that have evolved unique characteristics to survive in earth's most hostile environments, the report says.

"Many scientists believe that isolating and extracting the substances that allow these organisms to prosper could have enormous implications in biotechnology research, possibly leading to new cancer treatment drugs, antibiotic and industrial compounds.

"But in fragile Antarctica this optimism is offset by warnings of significant consequences if an unregulated international 'free-for-all' is allowed to develop," says the report by the UN University's Tokyo-based Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS).

Efforts to exploit this new frontier are now threatening to outpace the capacity of international law to regulate such things as ownership of genetic materials, the issuing of patents and the environmental consequences of harvesting these resources, the study says.

Seven countries have made territorial claims on Antarctica, but no other country recognises these claims and the frozen continent is administered by the 45 member nations of the Antarctic Treaty.

The UNU-IAS study calls for increased efforts for a global agreement to govern South Pole bioprospecting, which is driven by the billions of dollars in annual sales of commercial products developed from genetic resources or biochemical processes.

The report by the institute's director AH Zakri and researcher Sam Johnston is being released in Malaysia on Monday ahead of a major international biodiversity meeting in the capital Kuala Lumpur beginning on February 9.

Some 2 500 officials and experts, along with 60 government ministers, are expected to attend the 7th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Although no treaty negotiations involving Antarctica are on the agenda, the UNU-IAS is presenting its report on "extremophiles" to "help foster and support global 'biodiplomacy'."

So far, the report says, biological prospecting in Antarctica has usually been carried out by consortia made up of public and private bodies, mainly universities, research centres and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

"This has made it difficult to draw a clear line between scientific research and commercial activities, although it is clear that much of the recent activity has led to commercial applications," the report says. <

The report's co-author, Johnston, said the Antarctic Treaty System, the principal international agreement governing activity on the continent, does not specifically regulate bioprospecting or define ownership of the Antarctic's genetic resources.

- AFP