29 April 1999

Thomas Odhiambo

[HAMMAMET, TUNISIA] Africa-wide investment in biotechnology could be the continent's route to future economic prosperity, according to Thomas Odhiambo, the founder and outgoing president of the African Academy of Sciences.

Addressing the academy's fifth general conference in Hammamet, Tunisia, this week (see full report) after 13 years at its head, Odhiambo said that African scientists and entrepreneurs need to find "niche areas" where their investments have a stronger chance of succeeding. One such area, he suggested, is the commercialization of genetic resources in Africa.

Odhiambo said that while many countries struggle to find products and markets for their nascent biotechnology industries, Africa has a genuine competitive advantage, given that it already owns the world's largest stock of plants with known medicinal properties.

But he added that scientists and policymakers in Africa needed to modify their approach to biotechnology, from being primarily a source for the continent's future food needs to a major knowledge industry. Africa's transformation from a recipient of development aid to a major competitor on world markets relied on such a transformation, Odhiambo said.

The outgoing president's comments formed the basis for one of the key recommendations from the Africa region for the forthcoming World Conference on Science in Budapest. The conference's recommendations for the Budapest meeting, known as the Tunis Declaration, were finalized during the meeting.

Odhiambo's suggestions also indicate of a more pro-active response from leading African scientists to bioprospecting by overseas multinationals. Until now, the region's leading scientists had called for changes to global intellectual property legislation as the main route to protecting indigenous knowledge.

EHSAN MASOOD