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Andean Nations Bet on Bio-Trade |
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By Humberto Márquez*
The
extraordinary biological wealth of South America's Andean countries
is beginning to pay off for those who take advantage of it, feeding
the demands of the international market
CARACAS - Colombia is coffee, cut flowers,
but also bamboo. Peru supplies minerals and fish for restaurants,
but also ornamental fish for home aquariums. Venezuela is a leader
in petroleum and aluminum, but also aloe.
Bio-trade is gaining ground among the long-standing commercial products
that the Andean region puts on the international market.
Despite the ecological and economic importance of preserving biodiversity,
the notion of leaving nature untouched is falling by the wayside.
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela are four of the 12 countries
in the world with greatest biodiversity. They are Andean countries,
but they also hold portions of the vast Amazon Basin.
''We are facing a new wave, marked by the possibility of a boom
in the intelligent use of biodiversity, taking advantage of it in
a sustainable way,'' Claudia Martínez, social and environmental
vice-president of CAF, the development agency of the Andean Community
of Nations, told Tierramérica.
This ''new wave'' is in keeping with the initiatives of the Global
Environment Facility, an international funder of eco-projects, to
manage biodiversity with a broad approach, involving lawmakers,
officials and conservationists, but also businesses, rural communities
and indigenous groups that want to take advantage of their natural
resources.
In Peru, for the past 10 years the local company OAFA (Ornamental
Amazon Fish Aquarium), an exporter of aquarium fish, has run a 250
million-dollar-a-year business, and aims to become the main supplier
for Europe, manager Edgar Panduro told Tierramérica.
OAFA is working on setting up an office in Germany to avoid reliance
on European importers, who currently earn up to 1,000 percent on
the final sales.
Taking advantage of autochthonous resources for bio-trade entails
identifying niche markets and even developing new forms of organization,
as occurred in an agreement between the French supermarket chain
Carrefour and the Colombian Environment Ministry, signed on Jul.
21, to promote ''green business''.
Carrefour will give preferential treatment to the exports of 1,316
small farmers from seven Colombian regions, organized in 14 associations.
To obtain special treatment, the farmers have to certify that their
crops were grown without synthetic pesticides or other chemicals.
Another success story is Bambú de Colombia, in business for more
than 30 years, and employing hundreds of families in planting and
prevention of deforestation, project leader Gregorio Restrepo told
Tierramérica.
The Andean countries are trying to promote production for bio-trade,
''and in each one we face difficulties in obtaining financing, the
lack of research, the lack of development of new products and a
failure to consolidate what we have to offer,'' said Patricia Londoño,
consultant to the ''green markets'' group in the Colombian Environment
Ministry.
In the region, ''the issue has begun to come to the fore, pushed
by the regulation frameworks and trade negotiations for products
derived from biodiversity,'' said Martínez, adding that CAF has
already earmarked 900,000 dollars for programs to fortify institutional,
business and community development geared towards bio-trade.
Trade and organizing rural and indigenous communities to make the
most of their natural resources are part of the first phase in the
''new wave'', before full sustainable exploitation of biodiversity,
which requires financing and research, and the region is far from
obtaining those, said CAF environment director Roberto López.
In Venezuela, the Aloeven company is working with dozens of aloe-vera
growers in the arid plains of the central-western region, and processes
around 80 tons of crystals and gel from this plant each month, mostly
for food companies in Venezuela, Italy and the United States.
The potential uses of this plant ''in the pharmaceutical industry
and in cosmetics are vast, but to convert those production programs
into big scale projects requires financial, research and market
resources that small and medium enterprises like ours don't have,''
Aloeven manager Sandra Linares said in a Tierramérica interview.
Officials from Japan's foreign trade agency have expressed interest
in Venezuelan aloe, she said. Firms such as Aloeven and OAFA stood
out during a recent forum in Lima of companies focused on bio-trade.
Bio-trade could be a boon to the Andean countries, which also hold
part of the Amazon, as a platform to pursue development in biodiversity
and gain access to hungry markets, according to studies that CAF
entrusted to U.S. technology research centers.
As for the field of applied sciences in health and industry, in
2003, there were 370 biotechnology pharmaceuticals in development
to treat more than 200 diseases.
In farming, ''the demand for products and resources is parallel
to the growth of the world population, and agricultural biotechnology
is key,'' says one of the U.S. studies to which Tierramérica had
access.
In the animal health field, in 1999 alone the world's 20 leading
companies reported international sales of biological products worth
550 million dollars, and spent 320 million dollars for research
and development, says the study.
Another lucrative area is forestry. Lumber products represent a
400 billion dollar business annually and the field employs three
million workers worldwide.
The Andean countries, according to recommendations received by CAF
and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,
should step up value-added activities in taking advantage of their
biodiversity, and intensify efforts to regulate and jointly negotiate
their potential in integration and free trade agreements that are
under way.
One of the key aspects of the free trade agreement that the United
States is negotiating with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru refers to
access to the biological wealth of the three South American nations.
* Humberto Márquez is an IPS correspondent.
With reporting by Yadira Ferrer (Colombia) and Abraham Lama (Peru).
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