Sharing Benefits Seen As Essential to Intellectual Property Rights in Thailand.

Dec. 4--Only a few decades ago, plants and animals in remote countries were curiosities of interest to botanists, zoologists and tourists. Aside from that, only a few specialists, for example herbalists, saw real business potential for many species.

Now it's totally different. Many animals and plants, as well as their by-products, are priceless, particularly after the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993.

Plants and animals no longer belong to mankind. Instead, they are claimed by the country in which they are found. Those wanting to use genetic resources are required to share the benefits with the nation in which they are found.

Against this backdrop, intellectual property protection laws are centre stage, with technologically rich countries in the northern hemisphere and biologically rich nations in the south moving to safeguard their resources.

Participants in the Bangkok Post's roundtable on the application of intellectual property rights in Thailand, agreed that the issue should be considered in a new context as genetic resources involve huge benefits and require better management.

The research on a new variety of jasmine rice suitable for growing in the United States alerted Thailand that it was time to prevent the country's biological diversity from the threat of exploitation abroad.

Although Thailand passed the Plant Variety Protection Act in 1999, the law has yet to be enforced. The country has not yet ratified the convention although the Agriculture Ministry is now pushing for this to be done.