title: Integrating biodiversity management and indigenous biopiracy protection to promote environmental justice and global health.
abstract: Many potentially useful medicines arise from developing countries' biodiverse environments and indigenous knowledge. However, global intellectual property rules have resulted in biopiracy, raising serious ethical concerns of environmental justice, exploitation, and health disparities in these populations. Furthermore, state-based approaches have not led to adequate biodiversity protection, management, or resource sharing, which affect access to lifesaving drugs.  In response, country delegates adopted the Nagoya Protocol, which aims at promoting biodiversity management, combating biopiracy, and encouraging equitable benefits sharing with indigenous communities. However, the effectiveness of this framework in meeting these objectives remains in question.  To address these challenges, we propose a policy building on the Nagoya Protocol that employs a World Health Organization-World Trade Organization Joint Committee on Bioprospecting and Biopiracy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Law Studies, California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA 92101, USA. tmackey@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Tim K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Mackey
authors.forename: Bryan A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014943:Global Health / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D018973:Intellectual Property; D057766:Policy; D044382:Population Groups; D055818:Public-Private Sector Partnerships; D012935:Social Justice / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014480:United Nations; D014944:World Health Organization