India, Dec. 19 -- The first time I met Palpu Pushpangadan was when he was the director of the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in Lucknow. It was in the early 2000s, and he was full of energy as he displayed the herbal products NBRI was preparing at the time. There was a wine prepared from mangoes, lipsticks based on Ayurvedic herbs and so many more things. He was sure that these would soon become popular.

At that time, the line that Down To Earth had carried in its 1998 cover story had flashed through my mind: "Pushpangadan is a pushy seller of ideas".

He was. His work with a medicinal plant found in the Western Ghats is the first and the most cited example of access and benefit sharing.

This is one of the three pillars of...