The theme of the up and coming BioBorneo 2015 Conference and Exhibition to be held on the 20-21st April in Kota Kinabalu is “Bio-Based Technologies for Wealth Creation”. This conference is undoubtedly a major event in the biotechnological industry and biotech landscape in Malaysia as it provides, in the words of the organisers “The best avenue to explore bioeconomy opportunities in Borneo, as well as a platform for like-minded individuals and organisations to further share related knowledge, experience and opportunities in bio-based technology industry.” BioBorneo 2015 is also seen as an opportunity for players to network while increasing awareness on the bioeconomic potential of Borneo biodiversity resources.
There is no denying that our national emphasis on science in general and biotechnology in particular as sources of wealth or economic drivers for the nation is a strategy that is echoed all over the world. Yet the questions of “who really benefits” and “how much are the benefits really being shared by those who need them most” are still being debated even in the developed countries.
At the recent UNESCO International Bioethics Committee Meeting in Paris for example, the principle of Benefit Sharing of the results of scientific research and its applications, saw the less developed nations voicing their dissatisfaction at the way this principle, article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights are not being taken seriously by the more developed nations. Bioethics is a young field growing in importance as a way to check the unethical use or abuses of technologies manipulating living organisms such as plants, animals and humans in research.
Let us not forget that, to begin with biotechnologies is very dependent and is related to biodiversity which really is a far greater “wealth” than any human research product could be. The key word here is ‘bio’ (from bios, Greek meaning life) and biodiversity is the miraculous myriad life forms, which currently is decreasing rapidly due to climate change which in turn is due too much forest destruction, among other factors.
Alongside efforts by biotechnologists to manipulate genes of living organisms for new products, should be an equally serious if not more, attention, being paid by all the stakeholders regarding the future of our forests which contains within it our natural or God-given fundamental wealth. The forests supply food and oxygen, stores carbon dioxide, regulates temperatures plus provide a myriad of other “services” that often escapes the economic costs radar.
Biodiversity (which is the collective life traits residing in living things, whether we are familiar with them or not) is like a super gene/DNA pool from which future traits in plants and animals, especially those that become our food and medicinal sources will come from in the future.
These genes/sources of necessary traits such as the plant capacity to withstand rising temperatures and drought conditions are currently being stored by scientists and corporations in what are called bio or seedbanks/vaults, of which according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) there are about 1500 in the world currently. Scientists fear that if climate change and its devastating effects are not contained or should wars occur, a large chunk of our biodiversity and food crops may be annihilated forever and they see bio-banks as our savings for the future.
Some of the world’s biggest seedbanks are in Norway, the UK, Russia, the US, Canada and Australia for example. The mechanism for preserving the seeds include the preserving vaults being kept underground at high sea-level areas with temperatures and humidities regulated to protect/preserve the seeds/DNA.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault also known as the “Food Ark” has 740,000 seed examples from around the world. Besides food insurance, the main objective of the seedbank is to preserve biodiversity which many of us still find difficult to grasp the importance of, today.
Again these seeds not only come from current food crops such as the hundreds of varieties of maize, rice, peas, herbs, fruits, vegetable etc, but they also come from seeds of our forests.
Rainforests actually contain 50% of all the world’s now estimated 8.7 million species of organisms. This means that our tropical forests are an “extensive library of biological and genetic resources” not only for us, but also for the whole world, for now and for the future. For the first time, about 23 years ago, 196 countries of the world including Malaysia becames parties to the Convention of Biodiversity (CBD). The CBD legally recognises that the conservation of biodiversity is a common concern for all humankind. For Muslims it brings to mind our vicegerent (Khalifah) status.
“And remember when your Lord said to the angels “I am about to place a vicegerent on the earth” (al-Baqarah: 30).
The vicegerency means the earth and surely the biodiversity that makes up the total life on it is a trust (amanah) not to be lightly taken. The CBD makes it incumbent for Malaysians to maintain the living biobanks, which our forests are. Currently Malaysia has no seedbank of its own and the Chair of the Biodiversity for Biotechnology Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia has reminded us that “a national seedbank will be able to store seeds of food crops and those rare species to protect our biodiversity from extinction or loss.” Such a bank is also an imperative because our country’s dependency on imported food is increasing due to a decrease in crop growing areas.
Perhaps while waiting for a proper seedbank we can start our efforts at mitigating the situation where tropical rainforests are being lost at the rate of 80,000 hectares and with it 135 species of plant, animal and insects daily, by supporting our first in-situ biobank, the Maula BioBank (MBB). Established in 2008, MBB strives to ensure a proper and sustainable stewardship via the support of the government, NGO and scientists.
Half the size of Singapore, MBB consists of 34,000 hectares of rainforest reserve in Sabah. It holds one of the world’s largest population of orang-utans, clouded leopards, sun bears, rhinoceros, pygmy elephants, more than 300 hundred bird species, not to mention the rare tree species.
MBB’s jihad or striving is to prove that forests are “more valuable standing than cut down”. By giving out Biodiversity Conservation Certificates (BCC’s) MBB hopes to enlist assistance in ensuring that the Conservation Management Plan drawn up for Maula will be truly implemented.
A donation of RM15 will help to conserve 50 sq metres of the forests, RM300, 1000 sq metres and so on. In the Islamic context such a donation could be deemed as a form of waqaf which is an endowment, a voluntary and irrevocable dedicating of one’s wealth (the money donated) for the benefit of others’ lives (i.e. via the maintenance of our biodiversity for the future generation). To the Muslims this would also avoid their being asked, as in the verse al-Qiyanah (36), the question, “Does man think that he will be left aimless (without responsibilities) and not be raised to be recompensed?“.