ABSTRACT
Parts I–III of this volume have presented the latest global thinking on three broad issues: (1) the problem of biodiversity loss and what is to be done about it; (2) the national and international debates over the appropriate legal protection and regulation of biotechnology, particularly agricultural biotechnology, in view of its potential impact on the problem of biodiversity loss; and (3) the question whether and to what extent to develop legal protection for traditional knowledge, as a means of conserving and promoting the sustainable use of biological diversity. Earlier chapters in Part IV have described a number of the most important local instantiations of the global thinking presented in Parts I–III. As Michael Gollin points out in the preceding chapter, one of the principal obstacles in responding effectively to any of these international issues is the lack of access to affordable intellectual property legal counsel in many parts of the developing world, where the majority of the Earth’s biodiversity is located.
