Facilitating wise bioresource development and use – the role of commercial enterprises

In any large-scale bioresource development and utilisation scenario, particularly in developing countries, commercial enterprises will necessarily occupy a key place. This is not to deny the importance of initiatives at community level and by NGOs. However, many such successful initiatives have been heavily dependent on highly motivated and dedicated individuals and, expectedly, several projects have faltered once such individuals have left the scene. Widespread dissemination and duplication of such success stories, therefore, has not been found to be easy in the past. Commercial enterprises can possibly act as key catalysts and provide the continuity in promoting widespread bioresource development and utilisation because of the profit motive. While bioresources would seem to have a number of attractive features, particularly in the context of human concerns about exhaustible resources, pollution and environmental impacts, climatological issues as well as issues of local self-sufficiency and empowerment, commercialisation is likely to present formidable challenges. Interested enterprises will therefore need to employ all the skills at their command and will additionally need substantial support through appropriate policies and financial arrangements, at least in the initial stages. Such enterprises may also benefit from close association and involvement of NGOs in the first few projects. In promoting large-scale development of bioresources, commercial enterprises will obviously have multiple roles to play, including the following: • developers and providers of requisite technology and hardware; • promoters of large-scale bioresource use; • motivators of large-scale bioresource production; and • providers of requisite support services to ensure long-term success of technology and devices. Each one of these roles is likely to require a very careful balancing to ensure that associated social, ecological and climatological aspects are integrated into simple business imperatives. This paper also discusses the differences between various kinds of commercial enterprise, with particular emphasis on the critical role of small-scale enterprises in the initial stages and the threats faced by them subsequently. In this context, the basic policies and thrusts of international funding agencies (including non-profit foundations) are also seen to require careful reconsideration.