Q.Write a short note on Biopiracy highlighting the exploitation of developing countries by the developed countries.

Biopiracy refers to the commercial use of biological resources or traditional knowledge from developing countries by developed countries, without fair compensation or permission. It often involves patenting indigenous plants, seeds, or medicinal practices that local communities have used for centuries.

The exploitation happens in several ways. First, multinational corporations from developed nations collect genetic material or traditional knowledge from biodiversity-rich developing countries. They then patent these resources as their own inventions, preventing the original communities from using or selling them without paying royalties. Second, these patents are often granted without the informed consent of the local people, and without sharing any profits from the commercial products developed. …

The term "biopiracy" was coined to describe a deeply troubling pattern in the global economy of knowledge and resources. At its core, it involves a company or researcher from a wealthy, industrialised nation taking a biological resource — a plant, a microbe, a seed — or the traditional knowledge associated with it from a poorer, developing country, and then patenting it for commercial gain. The developing country, which may have nurtured and used that resource for centuries, receives nothing in return. This is not merely theft; it is a systematic form of exploitation that builds on existing global inequalities.

Consider the example of the neem tree, a cornerstone of traditional Indian agriculture and medicine for millennia. Indian farmers knew neem seeds could be used as a natural pesticide, and its bark and leaves treated countless ailments. In the 1990s, a US corporation patented a method for extracting a neem-based fungicide. India, along with international allies, fought a long legal battle to have that patent revoked, arguing that the knowledge was not novel — it was already part of traditional Indian practice. This case is a textbook illustration of biopiracy: a developed country's entity tried to claim exclusive ownership over something that had been common, shared knowledge in a developing country.

The exploitation happens on multiple levels. First, there is the appropriation of genetic resources. A pharmaceutical company might collect soil samples from the Amazon rainforest or a Himalayan valley, isolate a useful gene or compound from a local plant, and then patent it. The country of origin, often too poor to fund its own research, loses the potential revenue from a blockbuster drug. Second, there is the misappropriation of traditional knowledge. Indigenous communities have used plants like turmeric, hoodia, or ayurvedic formulations for centuries. When a corporation patents the use of turmeric for wound healing (as happened in the US, later overturned), it is effectively claiming ownership of a practice that belongs to a whole culture. The community is not consulted, not compensated, and often cannot afford the patented product that was once freely available to them.

Method — 3-part exploitation pattern

Every biopiracy case follows the same pattern — use it as a checklist:

1. Collect a bioresource/traditional knowledge from a biodiversity-rich, developing country.
2. Patent it as a "new invention" in a developed country. …