alleviate poverty and support conservation efforts, there are also examples involving communities in South and Southeast Asia that trade in raw herbs supplied to major pharmaceutical companies providing even passport data on source of origin of every consignment. There are also several examples of communities partnering in local research and development efforts to develop medicines and nutritional products to meet local consumer demands and devising ways locally to effect equitable benefit distribution. Agriculture, food, and nutrition: It is no surprise that agro-biodiversity and nutritional security go together. This is one of the most important sectors in the nexus between b iodiver s i ty and heal t h . The Biodiversity for Nutrition (BfN)(3) initiative co-ordinated by Biodiversity International and funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), a multi-country project, has been spearheading the facilitation of policy developments to promote agro-diverse farming and diets, especially for children and women. This initiative led by Brazil, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey is coordinated by Biodiversity International with implementation support from the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. National partners come from relevant ministries, the scientific community, non-government organizations, civil society and local communities. Similar initiatives on health, food, and traditional knowledge are also being undertaken by education networks like the ProSPER. Net and the Regional Centres of Expertise of the United Nations University and several other networks and NGOs with local communities. of local documentation of knowledge linked to Peoples’ Biodiversity Registers and further linking them to intangible property rights are happening in a dynamic fashion within the ambit of international and national legal systems. Global platforms are also valuable at bringing together communities of practice. For example, the Biodiversity and Community Health (BaCH) Initiative hosted by the United Nations University brings together the expertise of several multistakeholder agencies with an interest in community health to leverage on and synergize multiple efforts mentioned earlier. This global partnership has led to innovative capacity building initiatives such as peer learning exchange programs between communities from different developing countries across continents and with plans to replicate such efforts through stronger South- South cooperation. Biopharmaceuticals and neutraceuticals: Over 50% of all pharmaceuticals of last 25 years are directly derived from or modeled after natural compounds (Newman & Cragg 2007). Of the 155 small molecules of last seventy years, 73% are ‘non-synthetic’, 47% either natural products or directly derived there from (Newman and Cragg 2007). 119 pure chemical substances extracted from higher plants are used in conventional medicine. Of this, 74% of the chemical compounds have the same or related use as in folk knowledge (Farnsworth et al. 1985). Aspirin, Quinine, Morphine, Artemisinin, Taxol, Vincristine/ vinblastine are the most popular and widely used examples. Natural product discoveries still account for a significant part of biopharma research and development. This has key implications for the discourse on the fair and equitable sharing of resources, including under the CBD’s Nagoya Protocol. Apart from the more notable discussions on its potential to Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the 85 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
To see the actual publication please follow the link above