Representatives from more than 30 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia which met in Sarawak last week have formulated an action plan to stop what has been described as bio-piracy in their respective communities.

This followed what the NGOs described as their respective governments' failure or lack of initiative to stop the unauthorised removal of biological and genetic resources.

The governments had also failed to bring in and involve local indigenous communities in discussions and key decisions on the utilisation of such resources.

During the South-South Bio-piracy Summit in Miri last week, the NGOs said they will highlight the plight of people living in ancestral lands in Southeast Asia who are deeply concerned about the illegal removal of their biological and genetic resources as they had not been in any way consulted on such matters.

According to Sarawak-based NGO Borneo Resources Institute's executive director Raymond Abin, bio-piracy from the indigenous communities' land for commercial use had deprived them of a chance to participate in discussions on the utilisation of such resources.

"In this era of computers and cell phones, the utilisation of resources through bio-piracy has become a problem since the communities have been left out of discussions concerning the issue and have not been given access to any information," Abin was quoted as saying by Sarawak's newest English-daily, Malaysia Today .

For example, he said the Sarawak state government had failed to include the indigenous community in discussions involving the development of an anti-AIDS compound from the bintangor tree, which is currently undergoing the second phase of clinical trials in Singapore.

He added that in Indonesia, a local NGO, Bioforum, had documented many instances of local researchers working with foreign collaborators on how the local resources can be exploited.

"Many of these resources could be commercialised for future medical or pharmaceutical use," the NGO said.

Anti-cancer compound

A Philippine NGO, the South East Asia Regional Institute for Community Education (Searice) said that its own government, in spite of it being the first in the world to enact access regulations, had failed to take positive steps to assert the rights of local and indigenous communities like the Talaandig community in Bukidnon located in the southern part of the country.

Malaysia Today quoted it as saying that in the Palawan province, an NGO, Network Inc (PNNI), had pointed out that even a government-created office called the Palawan Council for Sustainable Staff had kept to itself discussions concerning the development of an anti-cancer compound using a plant from Palawan.

According to Searice, another Philippine-based NGO, the Tambuyog Development Centre, had argued that the fishing community had not been given adequate information on how bio-piracy might affect them.

Rural Advancement Foundation International's (Rafi) executive Julie Delahanty was quoted as saying that even if the governments of these countries were not inclined to recognise them, communities need to assert their rights to determine what happens to their natural resources.

She said given the lack of government initiative on the issue, the NGOs have developed an action plan to stop bio-piracy in their respective local communities and to bring the issue to the attention of developed countries in the West.

TONY THIEN is a freelance writer based in Kuching.