ABSTRACT

This chapter distinguishes between ‘biopiracy’ and ‘bioprospecting’, before identifying characteristics, elements and features of biopiracy (e.g., appropriation, exploitation and injustice), and then delineating the harms produced by biopiracy (e.g., distributive, ecological, sociological, symbolic, epistemological). From here, the chapter discusses the ‘actors’ involved in biopiracy (e.g., ‘users’, ‘suppliers’) and the ‘target market’ or ‘market designation’ for the different ‘source materials’—the basic resource or raw material used. The chapter concludes with some future challenges for green criminologists interested in researching further the processes and impacts of biopiracy. An overarching theme of the chapter is that countries in the Global South have been paying a huge ecological and human price for policies and practices developed and driven by affluent nations in the Global North.