This interagency transfer of funds is part of an agreement between NIH, NSF and AID to jointly fund three projects for five years, each with three interwoven components: drug discovery, biodiversity conservation and economic development. Each funded project will seek to make biotic surveys in developing areas with the purpose of simultaneously inventorying biological diversity, screening suitable elements of that diversity for natural pharmaceutical products and translating the results of this effort into economic potential for the inhabitants of the host areas. NIH will administer this cooperative research program for the three agencies, thus necessitating this interagency transfer.
