Invisible Pillaging: The Hidden Harm of Corporate Biopiracy

Abstract

Social and economic harm caused by corporations has been a topic of concern for decades. This is currently the case with multiple highly publicised instances of corporate practices contributing to the global economic crisis, such as the Libor scandal in the United Kingdom. Many harmful actions undertaken by corporations receive even less attention than those witnessed during and since the global recession. This chapter explores the invisible nature and power dynamics of the pillaging and theft of natural resources by corporations which is known as biopiracy. The global South contains areas that are some of the richest in biodiversity and therefore biological materials. Generations of indigenous people have relied upon and cultivated the different plants and non-human animals that are the source of this diversity for use as medicine, food and ornamentation. Western corporations, seeing the possibility for potential new products and financial reward, hunt out biological materials that hold commercial promise in these regions. At times, without consent or permission, the corporations patent and claim ownership over their new ‘discoveries’.