News-Letter  Nr. 418

Provisional measure for genetic resources is another affront to Indigenous Rights

Despite the protests of many civil society organizations, Provisional Measure n. 2,052, which regulates the access to genetic resources, was published in the Official Gazette on June 30. According to the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, the justification provided by the Brazilian government for the Provisional Measure is that it is intended to "put an end to a legal gap in agreements for genetic research activities for the development of patents for products based on Brazilian bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals." In other words, the government intends to pave the way for shameful agreements such as the one between Novartis, a Swiss drug manufacturer, and Bioamazônia, which only because of the strong reactions and charges it gave rise to was not signed after all.

The Brazilian Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations and Social Movements for Environment and Development sent a letter to the office of the president of the Republic condemning the initiative to regulate the access to genetic resources through a provisional measure. The organizations say that the Brazilian government disregarded discussions that took place over eight years ago between the National Congress and interested sectors about the issue. "Regulating an economically and environmentally strategic activity for Brazil through a Provisional Measure will give rise to legal insecurity for negotiations under way for using Brazilian genetic resources," the letter says. Very anti-democratically, article 11 of the Provisional Measure creates an interministerial council with powers to control, regulate, and approve the access to genetic resources.

The provisional measure reveals the complete disregard of the federal administration for three bills on the matter being reviewed by Congress, one of which was proposed by the government itself and another one by senator Marina Silva (Workers' Party - state of Acre), which has been approved by the Senate and must now be reviewed by a special committee of the Chamber of Representatives to be passed. The provisional measure will have a negative impact on the review of the bills by the National Congress.

Regarding the use of the traditional knowledge of indigenous nations, Provisional Measure n. 2,052 defies a constitutional right of indigenous people provided for in article 231. Among other things, the text of the provisional measure ignores the right of indigenous nations to "exclusive use" of natural resources and transfers the power to authorize research activities on their traditional knowledge, a heritage of humankind, from indigenous communities to the federal administration.

Provisional measures have been the means most often used by president Fernando Henrique Cardoso during his six years in office. Because they can only remain effective for 30 days, they quickly become bargaining tools. "Their original contents can change according to political pressures applied on the Executive Branch, as was the case with Provisional Measure n. 1,956, which amended the Forest Code," member organizations of the Environmental Forum report.

Brasília, 6 July 2000.





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