National Geographic - Bushmen May Get Rich
Africa's Bushmen May Get Rich From Diet-Drug Secret
Leon Marshall in Johannesburg
for National Geographic News
April 16, 2003
The wheel of fortune could be turning for southern Africa's San, or Bushmen.
Sidelined over decades because of their dwindling numbers and ancient
way of life, the San have been reduced to a few struggling communities
living on the fringes of society. But now their traditional knowledge
may be their salvation; they stand to make a lot of money—and gain
much respect—from the international marketing of an appetite-suppressant
they have been using for thousands of generations.
The drug named P57 is based on a substance scientists found in the desert
plant Hoodia gordinii. The San call the cactus !khoba and have been chewing
on it for thousands of years to stave off hunger and thirst during long
hunting trips in their parched Kalahari desert home.
Satisfying Sips
A melon plucked from the ground provides a drink. The San once found water
in plants and rainy-season pools. Now they draw it from the deep wells,
or boreholes, that opened the Kalahari Desert to cattle grazing and allowed
the San to settle in permanent villages.
To see more of Chris Johns' images of the San, hear him describe southern
Africa's Bushmen and their struggle to survive in their own land—and
hear the unique clicking sounds of San communication, one of the world's
oldest languages, please visit Last Stand for Southern Africa's First
People: Bushmen on the National Geographic magazine Web site: Go>>
A deal has been signed between the South African San Council and the country's
Scientific and Industrial Research Council (CSIR), which identified the
appetite-suppressing ingredient in Hoodia during research into indigenous
plants in 1996. At a small ceremony recently held in the Kalahari desert
near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which South Africa shares with
Botswana, the San and the CSIR made a deal to share royalties earned by
commercial sale of the San's ancient knowledge of the plant.
The overly nourished millions of people in the developed world spend billions
of dollars a year on preparations and remedies to combat obesity. Effective
new products that help shed weight are always in high demand.
Children danced and sang as members of the San community watched their
leaders sign the deal. The chairman of the San Council, Petrus Vaalbooi,
said, "We are thankful that the traditional knowledge of our forefathers
is acknowledged by this important agreement, and that we are making it
known to the world. As San leaders we are determined to protect all aspects
of our heritage."
The landmark deal signed by the San could blaze the trail for indigenous
communities elsewhere in the world. Many traditional cultures have ancient
knowledge of the healing powers of plants—intellectual property that
is often not recognized, let alone protected for commercial gain.
Defining Moment for the San
For the San the agreement could be a defining moment as it could mark
a turn for the better in ways other than a financial windfall.
In terms of the deal, the CSIR will pay the San 8 percent of milestone
payments made by its licensee, UK-based Phytopharm, during the drug's
clinical development over the next few years. This could come to more
than a million dollars.
The biggest revenue stream could come from 6 percent royalties the San
would receive if and when the drug is marketed by the international drug
giant Pfizer, which has in turn been licensed by Phytopharm. Given the
international demand for obesity drugs, the market for P57 could run to
billions of dollars.
The South African San Council was stung into action by a reported remark
by a Pfizer representative to the effect that the San had used the Hoodia
but that they were extinct. This was in answer to questions by journalists
whether the San could expect compensation for their contribution to the
prospective blockbuster drug.
South African human rights lawyer Roger Chennels, who took up the San's
case, said they immediately challenged the CSIR. "The negotiations
were tough, but the San had the moral high ground. Once their moral ownership
of the intellectual property rights was recognized, and once they wisely
agreed to enter into a partnership, the dealings became reasonable,"
Chennels said.
Though the South African San Council was set up in 2001 to represent the
country's Khomani, !Xun, and Khwe tribes, a trust has been set up (please
see side bar) that will share the money with other San groups in neighboring
Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Angola. This is in recognition of the fact
that indigenous knowledge, as with the Hoodia plant, is mostly shared
by tribes across national boundaries.
The San are southern Africa's oldest human inhabitants, having lived in
the sub-continent for at least the past 20,000 years and possibly going
back 40,000 years. But from the many, possibly even millions, who once
roamed the plains and mountains, only about 100,000 remain.
Brink of Extinction
The South African San Institute (SASI), a non-governmental organization
that mobilizes resources for the benefit of the San, explains they have
been driven to the brink of extinction first by African agro-pastoralists
who started arriving from central Africa from about 1,800 years ago, and
then by European settlers who arrived from the mid-17th century.
SASI says few San are able to live by hunting and gathering today. Most
work as farm laborers. A few groups run nature conservancies, but others
live unemployed in marginal settlements, with no income other than small
pensions from the state.
Nigel Crawhall, a San linguist who heads up SASI's culture and heritage
management program, believes the Hoodia-drug deal could help rescue what
remains of San culture.
The SASI program is essentially about trying to mend San society and reconstruct
San culture, and so set its remaining communities on a more sustainable
path.
The San have largely lost their sense of community and identity by being
dispossessed of their territories and becoming physically dispersed. They
have suffered language loss and some of their important social institutions
have become dysfunctional.
Reconstructing San society and culture is an intricate process which is
aimed at getting dialogue going between the elders who still have knowledge
of some of the old ways and the younger generation who have lost it. The
purpose is to get them talking about what had gone lost and what not,
and about safeguarding that which is important. It is a process of self-discovery,
says SASI.
Apart from the prospective financial benefits from the Hoodia deal, Crawhall
says, there is much it could do to assist this difficult process, also
by way of creating a more helpful relationship between the San and the
world they live in.
He explains: "The San thought nobody was interested in them. Now
Hoodia has come along. They are excited and have even become a bit secretive
about their use of plants, even though most of this has already been written
up in books. But their young people do not know about these uses, and
that could change now that there is this mass market of the developed
world wanting to use their discovery for body cosmetics.
"What struck them was that anybody would want to use such medicines
to lose weight. So there is also this interesting interface with the outside
world."
Fortuituous Confluence
To Crawhall, the Hoodia deal forms part of a fortuitous confluence of
factors which could spell a better future for the San. It fits well with
the consciousness of human rights that has come with South Africa's new
democratic constitution and which has already resulted in important land-restitution
breakthroughs for the San. It also fits well with the growing international
awareness of indigenous minorities and their rights.
Chennels, who has also been fighting the San's legal battle for restitution
of their traditional land, says he believes the deal represents notable
recognition and acknowledgement of the importance of the traditional knowledge
and heritage of the San peoples.
"This groundbreaking, benefit-sharing agreement between a local research
council and the San represents enormous potential for future bioprospecting
successes based on the San's extensive knowledge of the traditional uses
of indigenous plants of the area.
"We are optimistic that this case will serve as a sound foundation
for future collaboration, not only for the San but also for other holders
of traditional knowledge," he said.
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