Biotechnology and the Commercialisation of Biodiversity in Africa

Abstract

AFRICAN RICHES, AFRICAN WOES African Riches Far from being the proverbial basket case, Africa is a continent rich in natural and cultural diversity, and remarkable in the innovations her people have developed to use and conserve biological resources. The region contains a quarter of the world's biodiversity, encompassing a wide range of habitats from vast savannah plains and tropical forests, through to coral reefs, the world's largest desert region, and some of the most spectacular freshwater systems in the world. 2 These habitats are repositories for an extraordinary range of animal and plant species. Up to 60 000 plant species occur on the continent, including 35 000 endemics that occur nowhere else on Earth. 3 The region also contains three of the most biologically diverse countries in the world (South Africa, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo), 4 three of the world's biodiversity "hotspots"-or high biodiversity ecosystems under the greatest threat of destruction, S and one of the world's eight major centres of crop plant diversity (Ethiopia)6. Many thousands of useful plants and animals are found in the region, with plants such as sorghum, millet, palm oil, cotton and coffee, as well as several timber species, making key contributions to world agriculture. Additionally, many ornamental plants and medicinal products have their origins in Africa. A Matter of Survival While important for the international community and for global environmental sustainability, for the majority of Africans, biodiversity is a matter of survival. 83 B. Chaytor et al., International Environmental Law and Policy in Africa