UNCTAD today announced new partnerships in support of biotrade in Brazil, Ecuador and the Amazon region. "BioTrade" stands for the trade in products and services derived from biodiversity, such as medical plants extracts, whose production processes support sustainable use and conservation of biological diversity while generating local income and jobs. The partnerships are being launched as part of UNCTAD XI, which is taking place this week in São Paulo, Brazil.
Biodiversity is the source of the essential goods and environmental services that constitute the basis for the livelihood of many people living in remote biodiversity-rich areas in developing countries. Despite the 1992 Earth Summit, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity is still being destroyed at rapid rates.
UNCTAD is looking for ways that trade and private sector investment can contribute to sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity. Markets for products and services derived from biodiversity are growing, offering opportunities for generating alternative sources of income and for production processes based on sustainable use of biodiversity. For example, medicinal plants, exotic fruits and seeds are used as ingredients in an increasing number of consumer goods, such as phyto-pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and dietary products, with an estimated market in 2000 of $18.5 billion worldwide. The majority of such products are still not produced in a sustainable manner, but there is increasing consumer and industry interest in goods that meet quality and health safety standards as well as sustainability criteria, such as products that are certified as organic, ethically wild crafted or fair trade.
The private sector in developing countries can contribute to the sustainable use of biodiversity but has faced huge challenges in developing sound business plans and accessing national and international markets. Quality and safety standards are increasing constantly, and small and medium-sized companies in developing countries often lack the adequate infrastructure, managerial skills and insight into market structures. Private capital that could be used to help these companies overcome these barriers is dwindling. Developing countries lack the appropriate policy frameworks to enable trade and investment in biodiversity-based products and services. Many policies are still carved out to control and limit resource use and are not promoting private-sector involvement in sustainable use activities.
Solutions are required that take into account both the private and public sectors. Concerted efforts of a wide range of public and private-sector organizations are needed throughout the entire supply chain of biodiversity-based products and services. To achieve this goal, partnerships need to be built between government agencies, private-sector associations and companies, NGOs, local producers and international organizations, among others.
UNCTAD created the BioTrade Initiative in 1996. Since then, it has assisted developing countries in the development of national BioTrade programmes, particularly in Latin America. It has supported the export promotion of biotrade products and stimulates private-sector investments through the organization of investor forums, the most recent of which was held in Lima, Peru, on 3-4 June.
At today’s BioTrade event at UNCTAD XI, various companies showcased their business plans and the tangible results they have achieved. For example, a company run by a group of 75 women from the poverty-stricken Choco region area of Colombia showed how they are commercializing natural spices to national supermarkets, while taking into account sustainability criteria in their production processes. Agroalegre, an Ecuadorian firm, demonstrated how the cultivation and trading of natural ingredients for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals contribute to biodiversity conservation in Ecuador while also generating local income and employment. A company from the Amazonian region of Bolivia presented the audience with a fine example of how trade of tropical fruit pulps and nectars can generate local income and prevent the loss of rain forests with inherent biodiversity.
The first new partnership involves the UNCTAD BIOTRADE Initiative and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). The two have joined forces to establish a regional BioTrade Programme in the Amazon to promote the sustainable use of its biodiversity through trade and investment. Possible areas of action could include the improvement of regional policy and legal frameworks or regional trade promotion. ACTO was created in late 2002 to give new impetus to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, originally signed in 1978 by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela to promote the sustainable development of the Amazon. Since 2003, the ACTO Secretariat has been based in Brasilia, Brazil, and acts as a catalyst and promoter of efforts throughout the region, including the promotion of the sustainable use of biodiversity.
The second partnership is the Brazil BioTrade Partnership, which will promote biotrade in Brazil through a task force of UNCTAD, APEX (Brazil’s export promotion organization), FUNBIO (the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund) and SEBRAE (Brazil’s largest organization in support of the development of SMEs). The task force will support the development of value chains of selected product groups through an integrated package of support measures, including trade promotion, upgrading of company business plans, certification and access to finance.
The third partnership was established between Ecuador’s national BioTrade Programme and the Occidental Exploration and Production Company. They have agreed jointly to promote biotrade in the Amazonian region of Ecuador in support of poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation.
As UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero notes, these partnerships constitute another step towards sustainable economic growth in Latin America, and the UNCTAD BioTrade support of this mega-biodiverse continent is turning a clear comparative advantage into a real competitive advantage.
The advances in Latin America with respect to biotrade have caught the attention of other countries in Asia and Africa. During UNCTAD XI, the President of Uganda will announce the creation of a national BioTrade Programme in his country, the first in a series to be launched in Africa.
