76
3
information about the value of the knowledge they gave the pharmaceutical company. Third, neither the size of immediate donations nor the extent of new donations in case of elaborations of commercial product was made known in advance
to the local participants. Furthermore, this cannot be considered as actual negotiations, because donations were not discussed before the end of the bioprospecting
activity (Svarstad 2003).
In the following years, the Tanzanian state did not put forth laws or regulations
to ensure national and local income from bioprospecting. This means, for instance,
that knowledgeable traditional healers remained more or less without rights. The
most they could hope for was to be visited by bioprospectors such as Shaman, who
would voluntarily give them some ‘gifts’.
In the wake of the Shaman bankruptcy, its patents were sold to another company. None of the patents sold seemed to be related to this expedition. In the biopiracy discourse, patents associated with bioprospecting are regarded as unequivocal
negative for a source country that has biological diversity and related traditional
knowledge. However, we found no basis for that conclusion. Patents may in fact
ensure that a source country of genetic resources, and local contributors of traditional knowledge, can derive income from new medicines. Such patents prevent
other companies from exploiting the traditional and modern knowledge without
paying for its use. A prerequisite for patents benefiting source countries and local
actors in this way is, however, that source countries have national regulations to
enable such agreements (Svarstad et al. 2000).
Traditional healers might be able to negotiate to their advantage with individual bioprospectors through their secrecy on plant types. But to realize the full
potentials for benefits, their home countries need to have relevant laws and procedures in place. However, many countries have not established such institutions. An
activity such as bioprospecting might results in civil servants exploiting opportunities for extra income for themselves or their agencies rather than acquiring a source
of revenue for the nation state. According to Bayart (1993), many African bureaucracies work in line with such ‘politics of the belly’. In 1998, we visited government
agencies in Tanzania to ask about the correct procedure for bioprospecting. At
several of these agencies, we were told that the correct procedure was to pay a fee
to the particular agency we visited.
Shaman’s narrative on the collection expedition in the Kilimanjaro region highlights the participation of local women and thereby that their approach implied
gender equity. This came about by inviting not only traditional healers, who mostly
are men, but also traditional midwives, all of whom are women. However, in our
interviews with traditional midwives, we found that almost none of them had taken
part in the meetings between the bioprospectors and local participants where the
local benefits were discussed. Traditional midwives we interviewed who had worked
with Shaman in the collection of samples of medicinal plants were not informed
about the company’s contribution to building a centre for the organizations of
which they were members. In other words, our research questioned the Shaman
narrative contention that women participated equally with men. At the same time,
our investigation also revealed that the claim that the women who took on tasks
under the label of ‘traditional birth attendants’ did not possess much knowledge of
Chapter 3 · Discourses and Narratives on Environment and Development: The Example…
3
information about the value of the knowledge they gave the pharmaceutical company. Third, neither the size of immediate donations nor the extent of new donations in case of elaborations of commercial product was made known in advance
to the local participants. Furthermore, this cannot be considered as actual negotiations, because donations were not discussed before the end of the bioprospecting
activity (Svarstad 2003).
In the following years, the Tanzanian state did not put forth laws or regulations
to ensure national and local income from bioprospecting. This means, for instance,
that knowledgeable traditional healers remained more or less without rights. The
most they could hope for was to be visited by bioprospectors such as Shaman, who
would voluntarily give them some ‘gifts’.
In the wake of the Shaman bankruptcy, its patents were sold to another company. None of the patents sold seemed to be related to this expedition. In the biopiracy discourse, patents associated with bioprospecting are regarded as unequivocal
negative for a source country that has biological diversity and related traditional
knowledge. However, we found no basis for that conclusion. Patents may in fact
ensure that a source country of genetic resources, and local contributors of traditional knowledge, can derive income from new medicines. Such patents prevent
other companies from exploiting the traditional and modern knowledge without
paying for its use. A prerequisite for patents benefiting source countries and local
actors in this way is, however, that source countries have national regulations to
enable such agreements (Svarstad et al. 2000).
Traditional healers might be able to negotiate to their advantage with individual bioprospectors through their secrecy on plant types. But to realize the full
potentials for benefits, their home countries need to have relevant laws and procedures in place. However, many countries have not established such institutions. An
activity such as bioprospecting might results in civil servants exploiting opportunities for extra income for themselves or their agencies rather than acquiring a source
of revenue for the nation state. According to Bayart (1993), many African bureaucracies work in line with such ‘politics of the belly’. In 1998, we visited government
agencies in Tanzania to ask about the correct procedure for bioprospecting. At
several of these agencies, we were told that the correct procedure was to pay a fee
to the particular agency we visited.
Shaman’s narrative on the collection expedition in the Kilimanjaro region highlights the participation of local women and thereby that their approach implied
gender equity. This came about by inviting not only traditional healers, who mostly
are men, but also traditional midwives, all of whom are women. However, in our
interviews with traditional midwives, we found that almost none of them had taken
part in the meetings between the bioprospectors and local participants where the
local benefits were discussed. Traditional midwives we interviewed who had worked
with Shaman in the collection of samples of medicinal plants were not informed
about the company’s contribution to building a centre for the organizations of
which they were members. In other words, our research questioned the Shaman
narrative contention that women participated equally with men. At the same time,
our investigation also revealed that the claim that the women who took on tasks
under the label of ‘traditional birth attendants’ did not possess much knowledge of
Chapter 3 · Discourses and Narratives on Environment and Development: The Example…