The New Gold Rush: Bioprospecting Protecting Cambodia’s rich biodiversity and promoting sustainable, equitable and fair access and sharing of its benefits
By UNDP Ecosystems & Biodiversity In Access and Benefit Sharing, Protecting biodiversity & Restoring ecosystems
June 30th, 2022
Bioprospecting for biodiversity

Energy, agriculture, tourism, and other major sectors - including development planning - are all undergoing paradigm shifts towards more nature-positive investments for enhancing human security and climate resilience.

Prospecting, formerly thought of as the domain of flinty miners, is undergoing a similarly green transformation.

Nowadays, rather than mining for metals and minerals, bioprospecting is the exploration of plant and animal species for the utilization of their genetic resources in pharmaceutical and biochemical industries, and in the production of a wide array of commercially viable products.

It led to novel treatments for malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and cancer, highlighting yet again the interdependence between ecosystems and human health and wellbeing.

Bioprospecting is based on a sustainable approach bringing economic and social benefits to often poor communities who otherwise would resort to unsustainable use of land, consumption of environmental resources or other negative coping mechanisms such as economic migration.

A rich vein of natural gold

Cambodia’s rich biodiversity and its associated genetic resources makes it attractive for commercial bioprospecting. It encompasses a high number of known native medicinal plants.

There are many well-known species of medicinal plants native to Cambodia. They include the Mmoem Tthnam Cchin (a perennial herb in the Zingiberaceae family), Rromdeng Pprey (Alpinia conchigera), Rromeit Pprey (Curcuma sp.), Kkravah (Amomum kravanh), Mreah Prov Phnom (Dysoxylum lourieri), Dey Khla (Gardenia angkorensis), Tepongru (Cinnamomum cambodianum) and Vohr Romiet (Coscinium usitatum). Other native plants such as Voer Romiet (Coscinium sp.) are also found throughout Asia.
Cambodia’s biological richness under threat

As the country continues to manage its transition from a subsistence agriculture-based economy to an agro-industrial economy, its biological resources are increasingly under threat.

These threats include competing land use for agriculture, urbanization, and infrastructure; overexploitation of wild plants and animals for national and international trade; overharvesting of forest products; and climate change, among other.

At present, several native medicinal plants are facing extinction and are no longer available in sufficient quantity for use by local people. A total of 324 species of medicinal plants that are native to Cambodia are considered as potentially threatened – or may otherwise become vulnerable in the longer.

These include three species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and an additional 21 species included mentioned by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in the IUCN Red List (source). Some native plants have been extracted to the point of extinction from south-western Cambodia, particularly from the Cardamom Mountain region and areas within Bokor National Park.
Full article here: https://undp-biodiversity.exposure.co/t ... rospecting