Biopiracy in the Third World Countries

Case Review and Practice in East Kalimantan
By: Kusnadi Wirasapoetra

What is Biopiracy?
An activity and utilization of biological materials, especially genetic resources, traditional wisdom and their devices indigenous / local without the approval and the community and the country of origin of materials and traditional wisdom.
"What is sought by the red hair and great body high, come to us, and ask that this ago to take samples from many plant our gardens and forests. How was where all of that?

Questions on the dilontarkan by a mother who came from the Dayak tribe Paser to me when about mid-1994. Previous about 3 January 1993, spread the news in daily newspapers Manuntung (Kaltim Post now), that the earth's crop pegs have successfully dibudidayakan by 2 people citizens of North Australia, was also being carried out testing or chemical analysis (ekstraksinya) The Earth to the womb some diseases.
Next in 1998, when I travel in the blood of Tanjung Issuy, precisely in the village Mancong, get news from the local community through the discussions in the stalls, not that long serombongan researchers have come from foreign countries to Japan are the type of survey, palm-trees for paleman bahanpangan. Questions and newspaper news that may be very similar also occurred in various regions across the Indnesia.

Resources Traditional Knowledge Society
Natural resources (in this case forest) is used by many native people of East Kalimantan, in addition to wood for building materials in the home, as well as other resources, rattan, gum resin, honey, and so forth. Gum resin used for the community as a putty material, lighting and lungun (chest). A bird believed to nest the various types of food and certain medicines. Honey bees as a food that is believed to increase energy and bat a certain disease. In addition madunya, honey wax traditionally by the Ancient Chinese used as embrocation. Tengkawang, known for making cooking oil, butter green. Biodiversity, biological resources of the island of Kalimantan is not limited. But some of the illustrations give a picture of the rich genetic resources for industry at this time of existence is threatened.

Dayak Paser people, who are in the region of East Kalimantan to the south that is included in group Ngaju-Luwangan, when the stomach feel sick and have symptoms of diarrhea, the leaves of a direct search. When he fell ill find rice leaf worm, he immediately took a kind of sap, then ago sprayed on rice that fell ill. When he found it burn, then it provides a kind of oil from one of the forest trees to be smeared on the wound.

Similarly for the Kayan tribe Dayal APO (APO Kayan Group) felt when the stomach pain, the kind of gaharu wood ampelur taken to mengbatinya. Community Resources Banuaq, known as the treatment of cancer. There are similar plants pegs earth taken root by the Dayak tribe in East Kalimantan to muscle disease, is not enthusiastic, increase appetite, increase virility, cure diabetes mixture, and so forth. Since Borneo island is known, then since it is already exploited natural resources and knowledge. To date, the fate indigenous (Dayak) in Kalimantan have no access to natural resources and knowledge from generation to generation owned and has been, caused by the policies of natural resource management that dominated Leh countries.
Various biological process that is identical with the indigenous Dayak culture, protection and utilization of hereditary awake well. An example of genetic resources Kalimantan that was unearthed from a cultural ceremony purchase process, which require different types of plants and animals as a condition to running activities.

Results of research CSBI (Seed Bank Community Improvement Program) Foundation in 1995 Rice, biological diversity in the traditional ceremony for purchase 50-100 plant species used, ranging from hard plant, herb, flower, type of rattan and bamboo-bambuan. In the same year, the results inventarisai types of rice in the local indigenous Dayak Paser and some indigenous Benuaq, Tidung in East Kalimantan, found 400 (four hundred) local varieties of rice paddy fields and mountains. Then in 1999-2000, the evaluation of rice varieties by the community and Indonesia Rice Foundation in cooperation with the Bogor Balitan, found almost as many as 300 varieties in the local District Paser, Samarinda and the City Build (Kutai). This amount is far from a reality that exists. In fact, the dry season long years 1997-1998, many local varieties of rice are lost because farmers failed to harvest and forest fires and land, in some rural areas Mahakam river, the region Bentian, Banuaq.

East Kalimantan a wide area 211,440 km2, has a biological diversity that is high enough, so various ethnic Dayaknya. Dayak communities in East Kalimantan with kamum termed indigenous (indegenous people), according to the English dictionary (hall Library, 1991), contains the definition, comes from the place concerned. The researchers (etnolog and anthropologist) agree that the native island Kalimantan adala mainland immigrants from Asia, ie, Yunan Province, South China. Dayak tribe of Borneo, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Bunai Darusalam, is not known exactly how the group number. And not easily grouping against Dayak tribe. According to the version of the Tjilik Riwut (1958), former Governor of Central Kalimantan in the book Building Kalimantan, the Dayak tribe into eighteen tribes for the entire island of Kalimantan is divided into small tribal 403-450.

According to data issued in 1996 by Summer Institute of Linguistics the U.S., 4 in Kalimantan prpinsi there are 82 languages used in daily life Leh Dayak tribe. Keragamana the language of this showed high enough in the process of high culture. In the same year, the original indigenous population of 9,110,500 inhabitants of Kalimantan, including a small region, Sabah and Serawak. This amount is certainly still far from the actual condition, the level of population growth on the island of Kalimantan.

While resources and traditional knowledge for the Dayak tribe in Kalimantan include plants, animals and other materials that are sacred, seremonial (traditional ceremony) and the heritage from generation to generation. In ownership of resources and knowledge for the Dayak people are usually not binding (communal / joint), had a spiritual function and feasible to protection. Therefore, maintaining the resources and knowledge this is the most important part of the struggle of the people on the Dayak tribe of resources and traditional knowledge (including land area and territorial) are hereditary which is protected by rules of local custom.

Exploitation of natural resources Kalimantan, through the control of forest activities through the activities of Forest Rights (HPH), Industrial Forest Plantation (HTI), transmigration, plantations, modern agriculture, mining is controlled by the authorities and the investor (capital), is the exploitation of the rights of natural and traditional indigenous Kalimantan. Not only on the level of control of forest only, exploitation of natural resources and traditional knowledge is also done by the capitalist (multinational companies) through the research institutions, private government, institution and individual universities in Indonesia have long since occurred. Impact of exploitation is the damage and devastation that occurred involved in this research institutions, pharmaceutical companies (medical, cultural (craft / artefacts), the system of natural resource management in Kalimantan that lead to pillage the resources of traditional knowledge and biodiversity.