Africa and South America: Economic Development and Wealth Could Come from Biodiversity.

• Author: Feldmann, Paulo Roberto

INTRODUCTION

South American countries--mostly Brazil--were the first areas of the Americas to be populated by African immigrants. African immigration to the Americas may have begun during the 16th century, but even before 1500, black people had sailed with Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1492, and the earliest Spanish and Portuguese explorers were likewise accompanied by black Africans, born and raised in Iberia. In the following 500 years, millions of immigrants from Africa were brought to the New World as slaves. Nowadays, their descendants form significant ethnic minorities in several South American countries. Over the centuries, black people have added their original contributions to the cultural mix of their respective societies and thus exerted a profound influence on all facets of life in South America. Together, both continents are responsible for 50% of the world's biodiversity: Around 2 million k[m.sup.2] of Africa is covered by tropical rainforest, while the Amazon, in South America, covers around 6 million k[m.sup.2].

Everybody agrees that South America and Africa should better conserve and sustainably manage their biodiversity, but in order to achieve these important goals both regions need to find ways to generate revenues from biodiversity besides tourism. The objective of the present paper is to investigate in which way Africa and South America could have economic gains via biodiversity permeating the countries of both regions. It should be noted that plant-derived compounds have an absolutely important role in the synthesis of some of the most complex molecules produced by the pharmaceutical industry and thus an important part of the medicines available today, directly or indirectly, comes from natural products as plants, microorganisms, and animals.

The research question we intend to answer is how South America and Africa could together benefit economically from their enormous biodiversity. The methodology is a review of literature that examines this theme and a synthesis of the conclusions by the main specialists and institutions dedicated to the subject and complemented with some proposals made by the author who is at this moment doing some related research in the Amazon region. One of the conclusions that we have already raised is that solutions for these problems have to be global and involve other countries and regions in the world.

WEALTH THAT COULD COME FROM BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity is the group of all living things currently existing or those that have already existed in the past on this planet. Biodiversity or biological diversity deals with all of the varieties of life on Earth (flora, fauna, and micro-organisms) which means all of the genetic variations within populations and species, the different ecological performances by these organisms, and the multiplicity of communities, habitats, and ecosystems formed by living beings. It is estimated that the number of known species, including plants, animals, and microorganisms, is higher than five million, but at least 20% are threatened with extinction in the next few decades.

The importance of biodiversity results from the fact that all food that we eat and a good part of our clothing and medications, according to Carrer (2010), are products from biological diversity. The destruction of biodiversity causes global warming and other adverse effects. For the purpose of this paper, we will focus on the fact that biodiversity represents an enormous file of information to be used by biotechnology. This, in turn, refers to the technological applications that are used by biological systems or living organisms to manufacture or modify products or processes for specific goals.

Attempts to cure the major diseases that afflict humanity are a concern dating back to the earliest days of civilization and easily confirmed when examining the records and data of the earliest civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Hebrews, the Chinese, the Greeks, etc.

Pure morphine, at the beginning of the 19th century, was extracted from the leaves of the poppy seed (Papaver Somniferum). At the end of the 19th century, the invention of Aspirin, or Acetylsalicylic Acid, resulted directly from the previous knowledge that willow bark was very good for relieving fever and pain. Discovering and isolating the active substance, salicylic, allowed the manufacturing of Aspirin.

Another interesting example of this situation is the medication known as Captopril, which is indicated for the treatment of hypertension and was patented in the United States by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The active ingredient of this medication was discovered when studying the poison extracted from the jararaca snake (a large and ferocious kind of Brazilian snake).

But it was not until the mid-20th century that the pharmaceutical industry emerged in the United States and in some European countries, notably Switzerland. The pharmaceutical industry thus began using synthetic chemistry to treat diseases.

This time also coincides with the beginning of the interaction between pharmaceutical industries and universities of several countries, when they consolidated the various stages necessary to discover and develop new medicines.

Immediately...