Benjamin Neimark

Hotspot discourse in Africa: making space for bioprospecting in Madagascar

Abstract The biodiversity hotspot strategy initially pinpointed ten tropical forest regions for conservation protection. It has since mushroomed to include 34 global regions spanning six continents and accounting for nearly 16 percent of the earths surface area. In this paper, we analyze the coincidence of biodiversity protection efforts and the extraction of biological specimens for drug development within African hotspot regions. We also discuss the work that the hotspot concept does to order and enframe specific locations for the dual purposes of resource conservation and extraction in Madagascar. We maintain that hotspot science has done a great deal to facilitate the bioprospecting industrys access to genetic resources in some of the most well endowed ecological settings in the world. Ultimately, this begs the question of what sort of relationship exists between hotspot conservators and actors whose involvement with hotspot ecologies is geared explicitly toward the extraction of plant and other biological materials for commercial gain.

A human right to science? Precarious labor and basic rights in science and bioprospecting

Does everyone have the right to benefit from science? If so, what shape should benefits take? This article exposes the inequalities involved in bioprospecting through a relatively neglected human right, the right to benefit from science (HRS). Although underexplored in the literature, it is acknowledged that market-based conservation practices, such as bioprospecting, often rely on cheap “casual” labor. In contrast to critical discourses exposing the exploitation and misappropriation of indigenous peoples cultural and self-determination rights in relation to bioprospecting (i.e., biopiracy), the exploitation of a low-skilled labor force for science has been little examined from a human rights perspective. Reliance on cheap labor is not limited just to those directly involved in creating local biodiversity inventories but constitutes a whole set of other workers (cooks, porters, and logistical support staff), who contribute indirectly to the advancements of science and whose contribution is barely acknowledged, let alone financially remunerated. As precarious workers, it is difficult for laborers to use existing national and international labor laws to fight for recognition of their basic rights or easily to rely on biodiversity and environmental laws to negotiate recognition of their contribution to science. We explore to what extent the HRS can be used to encourage governments, civil society, and companies to provide basic labor and social rights to science. This should be of keen interest to geographers, who for the most part have limited engagement in human rights law, and has wider significance for those interested in exploitative labor and rights violations in the emerging bio- and green economy.

Finding that ‘eureka’ moment: the importance of keeping detailed field notes

In 2005–2006, I conducted 14 months of fieldwork on the political economy of bio-prospecting in Madagascar. I was in the deep south of Madagascar investigating the industrial production of the prized medicinal plant, rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus). The goal of my research was to examine how foreign pharmaceutical companies gain and maintain access to the plant and if Malagasy benefited from the trade. During that time I had the unusual opportunity to observe a sacrificial ram ceremony. In the moment, the sacrifice seemed irrelevant to my work. It was quick and before I knew it, it was over and the local periwinkle collectors were getting back to the hustle and bustle of market day. It did not seem very significant to any of them, so I let it pass as well. However, after a full review of my data back home, I realized that the sacrifice was one in a series of ‘mechanisms of access’ that companies will employ to overcome the social barriers to production and continue the flow of periwinkle out of the area. Drawing on my own experiences in Madagascar, I describe the importance of keeping detailed field notes to the success of the overall research project.