Al Jazeera's "The Stream" on Biopiracy

Watch the last edition of "The Stream" on a famous (alleged) case of biopiracy involving agro-giant Monsanto.

Where does the European Union stand in the fight against biopiracy?

Biopiracy was recently discussed at the EU parliament.  I don't think this happens everyday so it is worth pointing it out...

MEP of the south-west of france group of the Greens, Catherine Grèze, commented on a study commissioned by the Development Committee.  For her, it "reveals or emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach with regard to the impact of intellectual property rights in developing countries".

She said the two main sectors involved are agriculture and health and that biopiracy has generally two main causes: "lack of regulation in developing countries and / or lack of compliance mechanisms in developed countries. Responsibilities are finally divided - on one hand, developing countries should establish an adequate legal framework for access and benefit-sharing, on the other, developed countries must provide effective mechanisms to ensure sharing fair and equitable benefit from the use of genetic resources."

There are 3 main challenges that the EU should be dealing with:
- make sure that the Nagoya Protocol is ratified.
- reforming the system of intellectual property
- protection of traditional knowledge and recognition of indigenous rights at a EU level


Grèze stressed that "the temptation will be for the EU to hide behind the World Trade Organisation when it could be the driving force and reveal the concerns of poor countries to the rest of the world".

Read Catherine Grèze's itnervention in French here.

Web campaign

"Pelargonium" launched its web campaign last weekend on facebook and twitter.

People often wonder if these social media campaigns work. We had a few doubts ourselves. But creating a buzz does help.

We are reaching out to all our friends, and most importantly to NGOs and other organisations involved in biodiversity protection and defending other green causes.

We are also looking to connect with journalists.


Little by little, we are generating a genuine interest in our Pelargonium and raising awareness on an issue that has not received much coverage yet - biopiracy . But we do need your help in getting our voice heard. So what can YOU do?

>> Please, like our facebook page. Even better, it with your friends on your walls.

>> If you have a twitter account, please follow @PelargoniumDoc to get updates from us, and retweet them.

>> Keep coming back to our blog and share your thoughts with us in the comment box.

>> We also love to hear from our "fans" on the old email pelargoniumproject(at)gmail(dot)com

We have been hugely relying on our friends and families since the adventure started nearly two years ago, and the Internet has been a fantastic tool to get this film made.

Thank you to all those who have been helping, and all those who will be.

Calling all London supporters

Our film is now finished and we are looking to meet with London-based advisory groups, NGOs and think-tanks working on biodiversity-related issues.

If you live in London and would like to screen our film, please get in touch for more info.

Film Finished!

Carte Blanche is set to air a 10-minute version of Pelargonium Project: Trading Traditional Knowledge in South Africa at the end of next week. Meanwhile in London we will be finishing off the online edit of our 29-minute version tomorrow. The sound mix has been signed off tonight and we only need to do a bit of color correction.

We are looking forward to showing the film to all those who have contributed and get their feedback, and also share it with as many people as possible.

If you work for/with an organisation or a festival interested in film and biodiversity-related issues, do not hesitate to contact us at pelargoniumproject [a] gmail.com

This project is also educational and we would be very interested in including our film in discussions and debates about the trade of traditional knowledge and genetic resources and/or the implementation of new regulations aimed at protecting biodiversity.

Soon we will be posting more information on where you can view the film.

Understanding Biopiracy

A famous case of biopiracy is the one of Neem Tree, in India. "Used in India for more than 4,000 years, neem is a powerful blood purifier, anti-viral agent, and immune system enhancer" (Norten, 1999).

*You can read about the Neem case in this article by Vandana Shiva, "The neem tree - a case history of biopiracy " published in Times magazine.

*More cases on biopiracy addressed by the Times can be accessed here.

*Ellen Norten's book "Neem" (1999) is also available online: