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AWA FEDERATION-ECUADOR AGREEMENT
THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, USA
ELIZABETH BRAVO
Ecological Action
The home of the Awá nationality is found in northwest Ecuador and southwest Colombia, on either side of the frontier. The Awá territory is made up of wooded ecosystems, found in the last fragment of western tropical forests, in the Chocó biogeography.
The region covers 5,000 Km2 and is spread over the Carchi, Imbabura and Esmeraldas provinces, but recognised Awá territory amounts to only 1,010 Km2.
The Awá reserve contains extremely high biodiversity, in which are included two or three endemic centres. Out of the 25 life zones classified by Cañadas in Ecuador, 11 are found in the Awá region, which is made up of areas in the steep slopes of the foothills of the Western Andes going down towards the coastal area.
It is estimated that the region has some 6,300 vascular plant species, of which 1,500 (20%) are possibly endemic. The adjacent region in Colombia could have an additional 6% of endemism.
The Chocó Biogeography stretches along the length of the Pacific coast of tropical America, from the south of Panama to the North-east of Ecuador. The region is characterised by having the highest precipitation of Tropical America (8.000 mm per year), and is one of the planet’s most biodiverse regions.
The Awá population numbers 3,000 people across 8 communities; they have grouped together to form the Federation of Awá Centres.
The formation of the Awá territory started in 1984 and was finished in 1988, and the Awá Confederation was put under the protection of UTEPA, a unit of the Exterior Relations Ministry. Some difficulties in recognising the territory included:
• The Awá people were not recognised by national society. Officially, their existence was only known about since the 1950s.
• The territory is surrounded by poor settlers, and conflicts have occurred between the two groups.
• The State considers Awá territory as wasteland, and thus an object of colonization. They proposed the building of the Chical-San Marcos - Tobar Donoso road as a priority for the area’s development. The State was interested in the area’s minerals, particularly gold, and later showed its interest in its biodiversity
• No law in existence recognised the special rights of indigenous peoples.
• Few members of the Awá people spoke Spanish
Owing to the proximity to Colombia, and to the fact that the Awá people were divided between the two countries, the Colombian and Ecuadorian governments signed a bilateral agreement for the Awá region, with three objectives: territorial demarcation, bilingual education and natural resource management.
The Awá use a wide variety of medicinal plants; there are a large number of Shamans capable of curing ills ranging from snakebites to mental illnesses. They divide illnesses in three categories: the first are minor illnesses produced by natural causes, cured with home remedies. The second type is caused by wood spirits and is cured through a three-day ceremony. Finally, there are illnesses caused by witchcraft; these are cured by the shamans.
The area is affected by serious deforestation. The forests have been described as one of the most threatened on the planet in terms of biological extinction. It is estimated that in 1945, the area was made up of 60.000 Km2 of wood; current estimates indicate that only 6.000 Km2 remain, a mere 9% of the initial area. This is a direct result of the fact that the forests are home to many species valuable to the wood industry.
THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE (NCI)
The National Cancer Institute was created in 1937 to carry out research into cancer. Research on new agents was started in 1955 when its chemotherapy programme was set up; today it is under the charge of the Developmental Therapeutics Program (DTP). During its first 35 years, 400,000 synthetic and natural chemicals were evaluated. Since 1960 they have started a programme to discover anti-carcinogenic agents in plants. At the outset the programme was limited to the USA and Mexico, but it was later extended to almost 60 countries.
In 1993, the NCI invested $39 million, of which $2.91 million were used for laboratory research, $15.9 million in contracts, $16.25 in scholarships and $4.68 by the National Cooperative Drug Discovery Groups Program.
At the start, the NCI randomly adopted bioprospection methodology. To achieve this it paid botanists around the world to send in a quota of plants every year. From this period there was one successful discovery, TAXOL, which is used in breast and ovarian cancer and is an active principle isolated in the Pacific tejo tree. There are also 15 more active principles being evaluated in clinical trials.
In 1986 the NCI launched a more systematic and extensive programme of plant and marine organism collection in tropical and sub-tropical regions.
These bioprospection programmes were carried out in association with Botanical Gardens and other research centres. The programmes include:
• Missouri Botanical Garden - in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar and Tanzania.
• New York Botanical Garden - in Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Martinique, Paraguay, Peru and Puerto Rico.
• University of Illinois at Chicago - in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.
• Coral Reef Research Foundation - collects marine life in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Antarctica and the Caribbean.
Under each contract 1,500 samples of between 0.3 and 1.0 kg dry weight must be collected every year. In the case of plant collection, different parts of the plant must be included.
Up to now, some active principles with anti-carcinogenic or anti-HIV potential have been found. For example, halichondrin B, a sponge from New Zealand was isolated and an anti-HIV from a liana from Cameroon. Other anti-HIV principles were isolated from a shrub found in the west of Australia and a group of compounds called calanolides from plants in Sarawak-Malaysia.
Another area that interested the NCI was ethno botany, as they realised that they achieved a higher percentage of discoveries of new active principles when accompanied by traditional knowledge.
In September 1999, the NCI had more than 50,000 plants and 10,000 marine invertebrates and algae, the majority of them collected from the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
To screen the material collected, the NCI is able to establish contracts with third parties, for which purpose it has set up a Materials Transfer Protocol, establishing among other things that the property of the material belongs to NCI. It also establishes a confidentiality clause.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
The NCI has its own policy on intellectual property. They are willing to negotiate royalties for the patents that arise directly from agreements with the country from which the resource has come. The NCI is prohibited from establishing a specific percentage of “compensation”. It also establishes that the main source of raw material will be the country of origin; this ensures an economic income for the country, for example through crops cultivated.
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE AGREEMENT
In April 1993, the Therapeutic Development Program of the Treatment Division in the National Cancer Institute (TDP/NCI), the New York Botanical Garden, the Federation of Awá Centres and UTEPA signed a research agreement for two years.
The purpose of this agreement was to collect and research plants within the territory of the Awá people in the search for new cures for cancer and AIDS. The collection would be carried out by scientists from the New York Botanical Garden.
Under the agreement, the TDP/NCI declared its interest in researching plants in Awá territory, and added euphemistically that it had decided to “collaborate” with the Awá Federation in its research. Years later, the botanical director of this project, Hans Beck, said that it had helped the Awá people "in the management of its resources and conservation strategies ".
The Agreement established that in its laboratories the TDP/INC would investigate anti-cancer and anti-AIDS activity in extracts of plants given by the Awá Federation (through the JBNY). If there was space in the TDP/INC laboratory, they agreed to invite a technician from the Awá Federation, for no more than one year, to work there or in another laboratory, under agreement of the parties involved. Salaries and other conditions would be negotiated in good faith.
In this respect, according to a WWF anthropologist, JBNY staff also brought over two Shamans to help them classify samples. He pointed out that on taking these Shamans out of their communities, they left the communities without protection as Shaman are the people who care for their well-being.
Under this agreement the TDP/INC is to seek protection for all inventions developed. The results of the research are to be kept confidential by all parties, and the results will not be able to be published, until the PDT does not obtain a patent in the USA on any of these isolated agents. The patent will be referenced to this agreement.
If production and marketing licences for pharmaceutical companies were to come out of the research, the TDP/INC will “make the greatest effort possible to ensure that royalties and other forms of compensation will be provided to the Awá Federation or to individuals, with the quantity to be negotiated between the TDP/INC and the Awá Federation. This process can last from 10-15 years.
The royalties will depend upon the relationship between the marketed drug and the natural product that has been isolated. The Agreement says that: “if the invention” is the natural product (we ask how it is possible to invent a natural product?) the percentage of royalties will be higher than if the natural product only provides a guide for developing the drug.
A fund is also considered to carry out infrastructure works, such as the building of health centres, but this point is not stated on the signed contract.
ACQUISITION OF RAW MATERIAL
If a possibility to market any product were to arise, the raw material used must originate primarily from Awá territory. If the Federation cannot provide the required material in sufficient quantity, it will be paid to set up a medicinal plantation and other conservation programmes for endangered species at a cost to be negotiated. Will a social and environmental impact analysis for this plantation be done, we wonder? To cite some examples, will they stop sowing traditional products on which the food sovereignty of the communities depend in order to plant these medicines? Will the plantations be set up in primary forests? What will the impact on the zone’s rich biodiversity be?
All aspects of this agreement will be applied only to the endemic species of the Awá territory.
If the TDP /INC were to require more raw material during the screening phase, the Awá Federation and the JBNY is under a duty to provide it.
If large quantities of raw material are required, the Awá Federation and the JBNY will investigate the massive propagation of the material within its territory.
THE FEDERATION’S OBLIGATIONS
Members of the Awá Federation will work together with the JBNY in plant collection activities, will sort out export paperwork and share knowledge on the medicinal use of plants to guide plant collection. Healers will provide information on how medicine is administered and the best season for collection.
The Awá Federation’s scientists and its collaborators (the JBNY?) will be able to investigate active principles for uses other than cancer and AIDS.
Finally, the Agreement stipulates that if any conflict were to occur between the English and Spanish versions, the English version will prevail.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGREEMENT
As part of the agreement, 17 members of the Awá people attended a course on traditional and Western medicine in Pasto, Colombia. They also learnt plant-drying techniques for their later export. Subsequently, they themselves were put in charge of carrying out the project.
In 1993, the Awá Federation and the JBNY signed an agreement: Regulations for Scientific Studies Carried out in the Federation’s Territory. Some of the points included were:
• Written permission must be requested to carry out studies, including the objective, impact area, and the benefits to the Awá people.
• The request must be made two months in advance
• No more than five people will be allowed. (Berk and Ortiz, 1997, report that groups were made up of seven people)
• One group at a time
• Scientists must be accompanied by local guides
• Collection of animals, insects and plants for commercial purposes is forbidden (According to a WWF anthropologist, New York Botanical Garden researchers took insect samples).
• Only three specimens of each species can be collected: one for the Awá Federation, one for the researchers and one for the Tobar Donoso Project. Later the number was increased as the NCI asked its collectors to hand in at least five duplicates, one of which would be left with the Smithsonian Institute Natural History Museum and the other with the NCI Natural Products Repository (NPR) in Frederick, Maryland (NCI web site)
• They were forbidden from taking cultural objects
• Scientists should take their rubbish away with them
• Prices for services:
- Entrance - 1.000 sucres
- Guides and information-givers (shamans) - 700 sucres per day
- Cooks, laundry and other workers – 500 sucres per day
- Ecuadorian members of staff only need pay 500 sucres
• Giving of presents prohibited
• Anybody who does not respect the rules will be immediately thrown out
• The Awá Federation must be credited in publications
RESULTS
Scientists from the New York Botanical Garden carried out six ethno-botanical inventories in three communities found at 200, 500 and 1100 metres above sea level. In each inventory they investigated medicinal plants, the knowledge of healers and collected botanical samples for plant collections and photochemical analysis.
All journeys made were accompanied by local healers.
1,500 plants were collected, 85% with ethno botanical information, including use, preparation, and contra-indications for each plant, as well as ecological information.
I have not been able to find information on the fate of these samples once they arrived at the NCI.
It is important to point out that the Colombian Government, when it learnt about this project, protested against the Ecuadorian Government, as this biodiversity and knowledge are shared between the two countries.
This Agreement is not found in the framework of the Andean Decision 391.
Sources
Beck, H.T., Ortiz, A. 1997. Proyecto etnobotánico de la comunidad Awá en el Ecuador. En: Uso y manejo de recursos vegetales. (“Ethno-botanical project in the Awá community in Ecuador” in: Use and management of plant resources) Ed. M. Ríos and H.B.Pedersen. Abya Yala. Quito.
Cañadas-C., L. (1983). El mapa bioclimático y ecológico del Ecuador. Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, Programa Nacional de Regionalización (MAG-PROMAREG). (The bio-climatic and ecological map of Ecuador. Agriculture and Livestock Ministry, National Regionalisation Programme)
Cragg G.M., Boyd M.R., Cardellina J. H., Grever M. R., Schepartz S., Snader K.M, and Suffness M. 1993. The Search for New Pharmaceutical Crops: Drug Discovery and Development at the National Cancer Institute. NCI web site
Awá Federation. 1993 Reglamentos para la Realización de Estudios Cientificos en el Territorio de la Federacion Awa. (Regulations for Scientific Studies Carried Out in Awa Federation Territory)
Laird, S. A & Noejovich, F. Building Equitable Research Relationships with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: Prior Informed Consent and Research Agreements.
Lehm, Z. 1993 . The Creation of the Awá Indian Territory Case Study 3. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, July 1993
Levy, J. 2001. The Rainforest and Awá Indians. In: The Awá Indians of Northwestern Ecuador. Electronic version.
Nakaya, T. 1998. The Awá Indians of Northwestern Ecuador. Shaman. Research Intern, 7/20/98. Info-Link #4 .
North Illinois University. 2000. Fifth Annual Newsletter. Hans T.Beck Joint Faculty. Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University. Fall 2000
TDP/NCI. 1993. Agreement between Federation Awa and Developmental Therapeutics Program. Division of Cancer Treatment National Cancer Institute.
Saavedra, L.A. Latin American Press. Vol 31 No. 2 In: The New Internationalist. Issue 311 - April, 1999.
Varmus, H. and Schambra, P. E. 1994. Medical Products from the Natural World and the Protection of Biological Diversity; Report to the U.S. Senate from the National Institutes of Health. NHI web site.
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