ABSTRACT
The Peruvian International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) agreement is, in fact, a tale of two contracts and two separate negotiations. In the first, Washington University (WU), awarded an ICBG grant in January 1993, entered into a letter of intent with the Consejo Aguaruna and Huambisa (CAH), a regional federation representing Aguaruna and Huambisa communities of the north-western Peruvian Amazon territories. WU had, in parallel, signed agreements with Searle & Co, the pharmaceutical arm of the Monsanto corporation, for provision of medicinal plants with known use by their communities. The negotiations between the CAH and WU did not prosper and were terminated by the CAH. Subsequently, WU entered into negotiations with three local Aguaruna federations and their national representative organization for provision of resources; as a result, a biodiversity collection agreement was signed by the parties in September 1996.
