October 24, 2024 – Cali, Colombia – The Biomimicry Institute and New York University’s More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program are joining forces to champion a bold new idea at COP16 in Cali, Colombia: it’s time to give nature the credit it desserves for inspiring human innovation. Their novel collaboration will close a major loophole in current legal frameworks, ensuring that nature benefits from the designs and technologies they help create.
According to the Fermanian Business & Economic Institute’s report, bioinspiration is expected to generate $1.6 trillion in global output by 2030, with companies across sectors increasingly turning to nature’s designs to solve human challenges. For instance, researchers have studied the Galapagos shark, a basking ocean dweller whose skin has evolved to resist bacteria, to inspire a breakthrough product: Sharklet, a surface technology that mimics the diamond-shaped patterning on the shark’s skin to prevent bacterial growth. Sharklet has carved a niche in antimicrobial surface technologies, especially in medical devices and other high-touch surfaces in healthcare environments, making it a significant player in the $5 billion global antimicrobial coatings market.
The Galapagos shark is just one of countless examples. We have borrowed the aerodynamic curves of kingfishers’ beaks to design quieter bullet trains, created shelf-stable vaccines by copying the chemistry of the brine shrimp, and replaced toxic colorants with biodegradable materials that mimic the light-reflecting layers of Africa’s marble berry. The benefits, however, have not been shared with the originators of these innovative strategies.
Current legal frameworks for sharing benefits derived from nature, such as the Nagoya Protocol, are limited to genetic resources. This collaboration seeks to change that by advocating for the inclusion of bio-inspired innovations, ensuring that some of the resultant economic benefits go towards the protection and conservation of the ecosystems and species that inspire them.
Just as genetic resources were historically exploited without consideration for their origins, nature’s designs and strategies are now being commercialized without equitable sharing of the benefits with the ecosystems and species that inspired them.
Prior to the establishment of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol, companies could freely patent and profit from plant and animal genetic materials without compensating the countries or communities responsible for the conservation of those ecosystems. Today, the growing field of biomimicry has opened new avenues for what some describe as a modern form of biopiracy. “Just as genetic resources were historically exploited without consideration for their origins, nature’s designs and strategies are now being commercialized without equitable sharing of the benefits with the ecosystems and species that inspired them.” says César Rodríguez-Garavito, founder of the MOTH Project and Professor at NYU Law. “While these natural organisms are often seen as sources of innovation, they are not yet recognized as contributors and stakeholders in the profits derived from the bio-inspired technologies they help create. Without expanded legal protections, these ecosystems are left vulnerable, excluded from the economic gains of a multi-billion dollar industry.”
Expanding these frameworks will reshape our relationship with nature, recognizing it as both a source of knowledge and an essential partner in innovation, while addressing potential biopiracy concerns.
“Biomimicry is the “other bioeconomy,” based not on resources we can extract from the natural world, but on ideas–patterns, processes, and strategies–that we can emulate to create a more sustainable world,” says Janine Benyus, co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute. “Nature’s designs are time-tested and Earth-approved, and benefit-sharing could ensure that the habitats that gave rise to these innovations remain vital wellsprings of innovation.”
This effort comes at a time when biodiversity loss has reached crisis levels, and conservation funding is critically needed. The collaboration between the Biomimicry Institute and the MOTH Program aims to ensure that profits from biomimetic innovations contribute directly to conservation efforts, especially in biodiverse regions of the Global South, which currently see little economic return.
“Expanding these frameworks will reshape our relationship with nature, recognizing it as both a source of knowledge and an essential partner in innovation, while addressing potential biopiracy concerns” says César Rodríguez-Garavito.
This collaboration will be highlighted in a joint panel discussion presented by César Rodríguez-Garavito and Janine Benyus at COP16 in Cali on October 29. The panel will explore the pressing issue of biopiracy in the contemporary world, examining how ideas and innovations produced by nature are often treated as free resources for exploitation without compensation. Together, they will advocate for expanded legal protections that recognize nature as a source of knowledge and ensure that the benefits derived from biomimetic innovations are shared equitably with the ecosystems that inspire them.
Meet the team behind the initiative
Biomimicry Institute
The Biomimicry Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people to create nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. Through its various programs and educational initiatives, the Institute provides resources and support for innovators who are designing sustainable solutions by learning from and emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies.
MOTH Project
The MOTH (More Than Human) Project, hosted by NYU School of Law, is an interdisciplinary initiative advancing rights and well-being for humans, non-humans, and the web of life that sustains us all. The project brings together legal scholars, artists, scientists, and musicians to advocate for an inclusive world that recognizes the intrinsic rights of the natural world.
Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of the groundbreaking book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. She is the co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute and Biomimicry 3.8, which promote the sustainable practice of learning from and emulating nature’s designs to solve human challenges. Benyus has worked with companies, governments, and universities worldwide to apply biomimetic strategies across various industries, championing nature-inspired innovation as a path to a more sustainable and resilient future.
César Rodríguez-Garavito.
César Rodríguez-Garavito is an Earth rights scholar, field lawyer, Professor of Clinical Law and Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. He is the founding director of the More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program and the Earth Rights Research & Action (TERRA) Clinic at NYU Law. César’s work has advanced new ideas and legal actions worldwide on issues such as climate justice, Indigenous rights, and what he proposes to call “more-than-human rights” (rights of nature). His work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC, Reuters, National Geographic, Emergence Magazine, El País and Atmos. His recent publications include More-Than-Human Rights: An Ecology of Law, Thought and Narrative for Earthly Flourishing (NYU) and Litigating the Climate Emergency: How Human Rights, Courts and Legal Mobilization Can Bolster Climate Action (Cambridge).
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Michelle Lobo
NYU MOTH Program
