Today, as biotechnology advances rapidly, each gene in each species is "software" that could be worth a gold mine. Countries with extensive biodiver-sity, like Brazil and Costa Rica, which have tropical rainforest, have begun to limit access to their bio-resources. In response, multi-national pharmaceuticals manufacturers are competing to sign contracts with countries of the South, gaining access to their bio-resources in exchange for a user fee.
尤其在生物技術快速發展下，生物「錢」力無窮，每個物種上的單一基因，都可能成為賺進天價的「軟體」，因此資源豐富國家，比如擁有熱帶雨林的巴西、哥斯大黎加等國，近年來紛紛對自己生物資源展開設限，國際藥廠也爭相與南方國家簽下合約，付出資源使用費，以順利取得生物資源。