Does bioprospecting risk moral hazard for science in the Antarctic Treaty System?

Abstract

Bioprospecting in Antarctica has been generated in the course of, and is largely driven by, the success of Antarctic science, which has been given an entrenched and privileged role in the international Antarctic governance regime provided by the Antarctic Treaty System over the past half century. However, bioprospecting represents a new departure for Antarctic science in that for the first time it is not external to a resource activity, and capable of providing disinterested and independent advice on the management of that activity, but an active participant in the activity. Without some institutional separation of science as actor from science as independent advisor, bioprospecting may risk moral hazard for science in the Antarctic Treaty System. © Inter-Research 2010.