The first MOU on benefit sharing from commercialization of overseas useful plants between Korea and Cambodia

National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) under the Ministry of Environment announced that the first MOU on benefit sharing between the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia and HansolBio Co., Ltd, Korean cosmetic company was signed on February 14 at Intercontinental Seoul COEX hotel.

This MOU is the first case of sharing between bioindustry and the providing country the benefits arising from utilization and commercialization of overseas biological resources that have been discovered and analyzed in a legitimate way.

Through joint research and cooperation with the Forestry Administration of Cambodia, in December, 2015, NIBR found out that Dipterocarpus intricatus, a wild plant species in Cambodia, has excellent efficacies of skin whitening and wrinkle improvement. Then, NIBR transferred related technologies to HansolBio Co., Ltd., in November 2016, to develop cosmetic products with extracts of the plant. This product was finally commercialized in last December.

In response to the international trend to conserve and utilize biological resources in a more sustainable way after the Nagoya Protocol, the Ministry of Environment has partnered with countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Pacific area, and promoted international cooperation projects to jointly discover biological resources in a legitimate way.

Indeed, bioindustries haven’t been able to come forward to product development utilizing overseas biological resources due to burdens over benefit sharing with the providing countries and complicated process for access and approval, after the Nagoya Protocol was taken into effect in 2014 and accordingly related national laws are enacted in such countries. So the Ministry of Environment has supported bioindustries to help them develop new products, by streamlining the process for discovery of biological resources in that the Ministry has introduced overseas useful biological resources that have been discovered and secured in accordance with the lawful approval process of partnering countries.

With the signing ceremony of the MOU, on the other hand, Korea-Cambodia Vice-Ministerial meeting on biological resources cooperation was also held for sustainable and wise utilization of more diverse biological resources in Cambodia.

Vice Minister Park, Chunkyoo of the Ministry of Environment said, “Considerable time and effort have been devoted in order to help the first MOU on benefit sharing signed. Our Ministry will keep actively supporting bioindustries so that they can utilize overseas useful biological resources more easily and eventually can contribute to economic growth.”