1. the unauthorized collection and use of biological resources or traditional knowledge from developing countries, typically for commercial profit without benefit to the source country or indigenous communities
Usage: uncountable; often used in discussions of environmental ethics and intellectual property rights

Examples

• Environmental groups have accused pharmaceutical companies of biopiracy for harvesting medicinal plants from rainforests without compensating local communities.
• The convention aims to prevent biopiracy by requiring countries to share benefits from genetic resources fairly.
• Biopiracy threatens both biodiversity and the rights of indigenous peoples who have stewarded these resources for generations.
• Critics argue that biopiracy allows wealthy nations to profit from the biological wealth of poorer countries.
• International agreements now require researchers to obtain permission and establish benefit-sharing agreements to avoid biopiracy.
• The discovery that a major cosmetics company had engaged in biopiracy sparked outrage among conservation advocates.