France plans to regulate the complex process of biodiversity use by implementing, through its Biodiversity Law, the Nagoya Protocol. This international treaty developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992, came into force in October 2014.
In South province for example, researchers must ensure the dual consent of the sovereign authority (in this case the province) and the landowner prior to harvest on their lands. A model contract provides for an obligation to share profits amounting to 2% of sales of products from collected plants. This is what has to sign, for example, the laboratory of medicinal plants, a branch of the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (INSC) of CNRS, before taking samples in the flora of the territory. Condition sine qua non for the institute if it wants to maintain its Caledonian antenna, that is a valuable source of plant extracts: “Since opening in 1976, it supplies nearly a third of the collection of excerpts from INSC. At the moment, our research is mainly focused on plants with anticancer properties, antiparasitic and antiviral: dengue, chikungunya, HIV…”
Ethnobotanical surveys Kanak traditional medicine
If the CNRS laboratory harvest all kinds of endemic plants, the UNC boasts a different method: ethnobotanical surveys Kanak traditional medicine orient their research. “The advantage of this knowledge partirde is that they tell us about the fact that the plant has an activity on humans, and it is not toxic. It is then tested in the laboratory on several targets, without being limited to the traditional use, “says researcher Edward Hnawia.
In this matter, traditional knowledges – a major component of the Nagoya Protocol – are not yet protected in New Caledonia. They are subject to legislation of the country, currently outstanding. “This knowledge about plants, owned by the indigenous Kanak people, have the distinction of being collective and inalienable says RĂ©gis Lafargue, advisor to the Court of Appeal of NoumĂ©a, who drafted the bill in the local Congress. They are the intellectual property of a clan, who identified himself as caretaker of a plant and its secrets. “The judge advocates the creation of an independent authority which would contain this knowledge to prove, in case of patent filing, their anticipation.
