Introduction: Widening the horizon

Everywhere, local practices in biodiversity conservation, crop improvement and natural resource management are under stress. In some countries, communities and governments have to deal with “biopiracy ? (Robinson 2010). Although there is no universal defi nition for the concept of biopiracy, a useful working meaning may be, “illegally accessing and using genetic resources and related traditional knowledge, either through direct appropriation or indirectly through the use of intellectual property, especially patents. ? This is based on Law 28216, which created the National Biopiracy Prevention Commission in Peru (more about this commission in Chapter 5).