Indonesia and Costa Rica have joined forces in a project to conserve
their biodiversity. The two countries, both rich in tropical rainforests,
signed their agreement this month after links were established in Britain
at a meeting of the Tropical Forest Forum, an informal group of forest experts
based at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London.
The deal, between the Indonesian Institute for Sciences and Costa Rica’s
National Biodiversity Institute (INbio), is a rare example of ‘South-South’
scientific collaboration between developing countries. Its terms include
reciprocal protection of national genetic ‘property rights’, a controversial
feature of the recently signed UN Biodiversity Convention.
Costa Rica last year signed a pioneering agreement with Merck, the US
pharmaceuticals company, allowing the company access to national forests
to prospect for useful plant chemicals and genes in return for money for
Indonesia contains more tropical rainforest than any other country except