Key Legal and Ethnoecological Components of a Bioprospecting Agenda

David J. Stephenson, Jr.

Any bioprospecting endeavor has many important legal and ethnoecological ramifications. Frequently, however, these ramifications are subtle, and those involved in a bioprospecting project consequently lose sight of these ramifications amid more prominent scientific, industrial, and commercial objectives of the endeavor. The more that the legal and ethnoecological ramifications can be brought to the surface, placed in context, and thoroughly evaluated for any given bioprospecting project, though, the more likely that a bioprospecting undertaking will have a positive impact on the people and ecosystems affected, which should be an integral objective of any bioprospecting project.

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