NSF Joins USAID, NIH To Create Two Biodiversity Programs

Over the past three years, the National Science Foundation has joined with the National Institutes of Health and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to create and develop two funding programs for biodiversity projects. Studies supported under these programs focus on the variety among species and ecosystems in developing nations and assess the impact of global change on levels of diversity in those countries. The International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) Program, developed by NSF in cooperation with NIH and USAID, funds projects aiming to develop new drugs while at the same time leading to a better understanding of global biodiversity (Scott Veggeberg, The Scientist, Aug. 31, 1992, page 5). Many species from the world's scarce plant supply have the potential to be used as therapeutics; an example that has been receiving much attention is taxol, which is derived from the Pacific yew tree and is used to treat breast and ovarian cancer. A sensitivity to biodiversity among researchers, says USAID senior biodiversity adviser S.H. Sohmer, will aid in the preservation of biological resources that are rapidly dwindling, which is vital "if we're ever to recognize the potential of long- term, sustainable development" of those resources. The effort had its beginnings in 1991, when NSF, USAID, and NIH's National Cancer Center and Fogarty International Center convened an international conference of experts in biological diversity, drug development from natural products, anthropology, and intellectual property rights, in an effort to develop new solutions to the growing problem of loss of biodiversity. Conference participants developed a set of general principles for addressing the threat to biodiversity; chief among these was the need for international cooperation. According to Sohmer, consortia composed of universities, nonprofit institutions, and industry (either singly or in partnership) can submit proposals for projects leading to a greater, more comprehensive knowledge base of species of plants and other organisms from endangered ecosystems, supplemented by tapping the intellectual resources of indigenous peoples to learn about the traditional uses of these organisms. Proposals can be submitted by foreign institutions, as long as the consortium has a component from the U.S. Under this program, consortia may use collected species to prepare compounds for testing against cancer, AIDS, infectious and cardiovascular disease, and mental disorders. The goal, says Sohmer, is "to promote the concept of combining scientific progress, economic growth, and a sustainable form of natural resource use. "In this program, we're looking to link conservation, drug discovery, and infrastructure development together to try and find means to contribute to the economic well-being of a country, to train scientists in that country to screen drugs for medicinal uses, and to develop the knowledge and training base necessary for that nation's own scientists to better understand the biodiversity of their own country." NSF/USAID Program An older program funded by NSF and USAID, begun in 1990, sponsors research aiming to expand knowledge of the diversity among ecosystems and species in developing countries. In addition, the agencies hope to encourage projects that will strengthen programs and facilities for biodiversity research and education in developing countries (one of the prime considerations in proposal evaluation, according to Sohmer). In 1992, more than $2.5 million was awarded through this initiative to support 13 U.S. researchers working in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico, and Panama. Michael Smith, senior research scientist at the Washington D.C.- based Center for Marine Conservation, received a total of $212,000 in funding under this program ($120,000 from NSF and supplementary funding of $92,000 from USAID). He plans to use the money to research and analyze the population distribution of the more than 1,500 species of Caribbean fish. Smith says this funding not only will allow him to pursue a study of these fish on a far greater scale than he might otherwise have managed, but also will further the creation of a genuine regional program in Caribbean biodiversity. "One of the problems in creating a true biodiversity protection and study program is that there is so little regional support for local professionals," Smith says. "That means that most of the guiding expertise that comes to a program comes from countries like the U.S., and that because of financial and other constraints, regional professionals are unable to travel afield to gather the additional knowledge they need for a comprehensive picture of the resources they're trying to study. This funding will go a long way towards changing both of these situations." Charlotte Taylor, a botanist at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, received a total of $286,000 in combined NSF/USAID funding ($168,000 from NSF, $98,000 from USAID), which she says she will use to work on a new flora for the country of Chile. "What we hope to produce," she says, "is a modern, comprehensive flora, complete with descriptions, keys, geographic ranges, and so on, which will provide a detailed information base for conservation work in that region." Taylor says the project will also aid in the training and education of Chilean scientists to specialize in their own flora. "Chile is not a rich country," she says, "and they have a great need to develop their own scientific community. The additional USAID funding will be a tremendous help in that regard." Whom To Contact Funding for the USAID supplement to the NSF/USAID program is based upon yearly appropriations, according to Sohmer, and has averaged $1.5 million annually for the past two years. (The NSF portion of the funding varies from year to year, he adds.) Deadlines for the NSF/USAID proposals are June 15 and December 15. The ICBG Program is being administered by the Fogarty International Center. This program, which is being funded by a commitment of $500,000 per year from each of the three institutions--NSF, USAID, and NIH--has an annual deadline of November 17. Joann Roskoski, NSF ecology program director, says she expects three or four of the 32 ICBG proposals received in 1992 to be funded. The first grant recipients are expected to be announced sometime this spring but had not been announced by press time. For more information, contact Kenneth Bridbord, Chief, International Studies Branch, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 31, Rm. B2C32, Bethesda, Md. 20892; (301) 496-2515. Interested parties can also obtain information on both programs by contacting James Edwards, the acting division director for NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, at (202) 357-7332, or by referring to these publications: NSF 1-80, "Guide to Programs; Fiscal Year 1993," or the monthly "NSF Bulletin." Lance Frazer is a freelance writer based in Santa Rosa, Calif.

NSF Joins USAID, NIH To Create Two Biodiversity Programs

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