Emerging trends in sustainable bioprospecting of bioresources

Abstract

‘Bioprospecting’ accepts the significance of natural product discovery based on traditional knowledge for the development of new nutraceuticals, bioactive principles and medicines. Bioprospecting has got two major goals, viz. ‘the sustainable use through biotechnology of biological resources and their conservation’ and ‘the scientific and socioeconomic development of source countries and local communities’. Megadiverse countries have a substantial picket in connecting the prospective of biotechnology and bioprospecting for realising sustainable economic development. A major concern in bioprospecting is benefit sharing, i.e. sharing of the benefit for biodiversity conservation and social development of the local ethnic populace. This is an area with much debate but of little consent. It is important to understand the reasonable cost of biodiversity, its bioprospecting and benefit sharing. Also, bioprospecting may have a significant negative impact on the bioresources and environment if keystone species are removed or biodiversity extinctions triggered through overharvesting of the resources. This chapter provides an exploration of the current and future scope of bioprospecting obtained from biologically diverse natural resources. Although not envisioned to be all-inclusive in its coverage, the chapter is aimed to describe certain possibilities and opportunities within Northeastern India while describing the global trends and the industries involved in bioprospecting. The chapter also discusses means in which new technological developments and new research tools have a direct beneficial role in findings, expansion and making of profits derived from bioresources, which need to be explored at its best while minimising the harmful aspects of bioprospecting on nature and its resources.