ABSTRACT
The Fund for Integrated Rural Development and Traditional Medicine (FIRD-TM) was established in Nigeria at the initiative of the Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme (BDCP) as an autonomous body to address the issues relating to the bioprospecting and equitable benefit-sharing aspects of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) within the framework of existing laws. It was a response to the major institutional gap and the lack of an appropriate and effective vehicle to receive and channel benefits in an equitable and consistent manner in order to source communities from which commercially useful genetic resources and specialized knowledge are derived. In establishing the fund as an independent body with constituents from across all sectors, including the government and grassroots, it is anticipated that the principal problem of getting benefits to the localities (and knowledge) that are the sources and custodians of the relevant biotic materials will be overcome.
