Ethics and bioprospecting in Antarctica

Abstract

Bioprospecting is a current activity in Antarctica, especially in the Southern Ocean, where numerous genetic resources have already been extracted and patented. At the global level, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the Convention on Biologi- cal Diversity and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are the normal legal instru- ments for bioprospecting. These instruments are all based on territoriality and incorporate govern- ment restriction of access to resources. However, in Antarctica, the Antarctic Treaty System has been built over the past 50 yr on fundamental ethical principles comprising peace, a freeze on territorial claims, freedom of scientific research, international cooperation, and environmental protection in the interest of mankind as a whole. How can bioprospecting be organized in Antarctica to match these ethical concerns without a sovereign governance structure that is predicated in the global instru- ments? At the global level, the current instruments seem inadequate because of the lack of accep- tance of territorial claims existing in Antarctica; at the regional level, the existing system of Antarctic law still lacks concepts and criteria necessary to underpin the development of this activity with respect to the ethical principles and in a form likely to be transferred into national legislation. The solution for bioprospecting in Antarctica therefore needs to be the creation of an ad hoc Antarctic legal regime.