The type of contractual agreement that many hope would be encouraged by the biodiversity treaty is exemplified by the recent agreement between Merck & Company, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, and the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad in Costa Rica. The agreement, announced on 19 September 1991, is a two-year "collaborative research agreement" under which Merck agreed to pay INBio a sum of $1 million for all of the plant, insect, and soil samples the institute could collect in addition to a percentage of the royalties from any drugs that Merck develops from samples provided by INBio. The royalties, which were estimated to be in the range of one to three percent but were not made known to the public, will be split equally between INBio and the Costa Rican Ministry of Natural Resources.
Was this deal ethically justifiable? Why or why not? Who, if anyone, owns the many species found in nature? Do they belong to the people who own the land or water on or in which they are found?