Accra, (Greater Accra) 5 Nov.,

Dr Farouk Brimah, deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), today urged people not to destroy plants and animals in the course of economic activity because they could have great economic and medicinal values. Opening a two-day workshop on ''The Management of Bioprospecting in Ghana'', Dr Brimah said ''many of these plants, when properly identified and their uses adequately assessed, could have values greater than gold''. Forty experts and researchers from the public and private sector and tertiary institutions are attending the workshop aimed at harmonising the various strategies for bioprospecting in the country. The workshop, being organised by the MEST, Department of Botany, University of Ghana, and the US-based Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme, is expected to culminate in a policy and legislative framework for managing bioprospecting in the country. Bioprospecting is the exploitation and use of living organisms for the socio-economic welfare of a country or people. Dr Brimah noted with concern that in many cases the exploitation of plants do not conform to the objectives of the international Convention on Biological Diversity which ensures sustainable exploitation of biological resources and equal sharing of accruing benefits.