Traditional Knowledge Bulletin |
- Resource: UNU-IAS TK and climate science toolkit
- Meeting review: WIPO IGC 24
- This week in review … UNCTAD expert meeting addresses IP and ABS, provides feedback to draft handbook
- Resource: UNU-IAS policy report on indicators of resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes
- Resource: IIED report on collective trademarks and biocultural heritage in the Potato Park, Peru
- This week in review … UNESCO regional workshop focuses on indigenous knowledge on hydro-meteorological hazards and climate change adaptation
- This week in review … EurActiv reports on European Parliament discussions on draft ABS regulation
Resource: UNU-IAS TK and climate science toolkit Posted: 01 May 2013 04:17 AM PDT Traditional Knowledge and Climate Science Toolkit Indigenous communities have long, multi-generational histories of interaction with the environment that include coping with variability, uncertainty and change. However, climate-induced impacts on their territories and communities are anticipated to be both early and severe due to their location in vulnerable habitats, including small islands, high altitude zones, desert margins and the circumpolar Arctic. Climate change poses a direct threat to many indigenous societies due to their continuing reliance upon resource-based livelihoods. At the same time, resilience in the face of a changing environment is embedded in indigenous knowledge and know-how, diversified resources and livelihoods, social institutions and networks, and cultural values and attitudes. Attentiveness to environmental variability, shifts and trends is an integral part of their ways of life. Community-based and local knowledge may offer valuable insights on climate-induced changes, and complement broader-scale scientific research with local precision and nuance. Indigenous societies have elaborated coping strategies to deal with unstable environments, and in some cases, are already actively adapting to early climate change impacts. While the transformations due to climate change are expected to be unprecedented, indigenous knowledge and coping strategies provide a crucial foundation for community-based adaptation measures. This toolkit provides access to articles, videos and various other resources that will assist indigenous peoples, local communities, policy makers and other stakeholders in accessing research on climate change adaptation and mitigation. It is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese. Download the toolkit [pdf] … |
Posted: 01 May 2013 04:15 AM PDT Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore: 24th session Focusing on traditional knowledge, the 24th session of the WIPO IGC was marked by intense substantive examination of four fundamental issues: defining "traditional knowledge"; identifying the beneficiaries of protection; framing the scope of rights; and defining appropriate exceptions and limitations. Following a review of the draft articles on TK in plenary, the IGC established an informal expert group with up to six experts per region and two indigenous experts, which worked on the core issues with a view to reducing the number of options and streamlining the text. The improved draft text of an international legal instrument on intellectual property and traditional knowledge, as reviewed by plenary on Friday, 26 April, will be transmitted to the WIPO General Assembly, which will meet from 23 September to 2 October 2013. The General Assembly will take stock of progress made and decide on convening a diplomatic conference. According to IP Watch, most participants agreed that progress has been achieved on cleaning up the text, although consensus has not been met on core issues. Three additional texts that were tabled by groups of developed countries, including two recommendations on genetic resources and associated TK, and on the use of databases for TK protection, and terms of reference for a study on the merits of mandatory disclosure requirements, were rejected by developing countries as attempts to side-track negotiations on the draft articles. WIPO IGC 24 was preceded by a three-day indigenous expert workshop, co-organized by the WIPO Secretariat and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The workshop provided valuable input to the preparations of the indigenous representatives during the session. IGC 24 then began with an indigenous panel, which focused specifically on the perspectives of indigenous peoples with respect to their right to maintain, control, protect, and develop their intellectual property over traditional knowledge. The WIPO Voluntary Fund for Accredited Indigenous and Local Communities funded two indigenous and local community participants at the session. IGC participants were reminded however by the Chair and the Secretariat that the Voluntary Fund is in dire need of new contributions. WIPO IGC 25, which will address the theme of traditional cultural expressions, and provide an additional three days for stock-taking, will take place from 15-24 July 2013. Read the IGC 24 update by the WIPO Secretariat … Read the meeting's documents … Read the meeting's decisions … Download the revised draft articles on TK [pdf] … Read the IP Watch article of 28 April … Read the IP Watch article of 26 April … Read the IP Watch article of 24 April … |
This week in review … UNCTAD expert meeting addresses IP and ABS, provides feedback to draft handbook Posted: 01 May 2013 04:14 AM PDT UNCTAD: IPRs in Health, Research, Cosmetics, Meet Access and Benefit Sharing UNCTAD Handbook: IP and the CBD Protocol on Genetic Resources GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: The interactions between intellectual property and international rules of global access and benefit-sharing (ABS) were explored recently by an expert group meeting, convened by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 16-17 April 2013. Several panels held under the Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting on the Development Dimensions of Intellectual Property: Biological Diversity and Access and Benefit Sharing shed light on IP and ABS in particular areas, such as natural ingredients used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and pandemic influenza preparedness. Among many speakers, Johanna von Braun, attorney-at-law for Natural Justice, presented cases of misappropriation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, and challenges to prevent that misappropriation. She advised that ABS contracts should be well drafted to ensure certainty on what happens to the resources when they leave the country, and said that local communities need capacity building in order to be aware of their rights and be able to negotiate. The meeting also served to provide feedback on a draft handbook on the Nagoya Protocol on ABS and the international intellectual property system, to be published by UNCTAD later this year. The draft handbook addresses the sources of international law, disclosure of origin, the patentability of life forms, limitations and exceptions to IP laws, positive protection of traditional knowledge, costs and benefits of geographical indications, and private contract law. Read the article of 29 April … Read the article of 30 April … |
Resource: UNU-IAS policy report on indicators of resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes Posted: 01 May 2013 04:12 AM PDT Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes (SEPLs) This policy report provides an in-depth look at the importance of developing a holistic set of indicators for policy-makers and communities to better understand the resilience of socio-ecological production landscapes, which have been created over time through close interactions between humans and their surroundings. When wisely managed, SEPLs have the potential to sustain rich levels of biodiversity while enhancing human well-being. The report also shares first experiences and lessons learned from application of the indicators in Cuba's Cuchillas del Toa Biosphere Reserve. Download the report [pdf] … |
Resource: IIED report on collective trademarks and biocultural heritage in the Potato Park, Peru Posted: 01 May 2013 04:10 AM PDT Collective trademarks and biocultural heritage: towards new indications of distinction for indigenous peoples in the Potato Park, Peru This paper presents the experience of the Potato Park communities in Cusco, Peru, in applying for formal protection through a collective trademark, and also in adopting an informal trademark for their products and services. The process of registering the collective trademark brought to light the incompatibility of the registration requirements with Peruvian law on indigenous governance, and the application was unsuccessful. The Potato Park communities have instead opted to use their trademark informally, and it is now widely recognised as a distinctive symbol of the Park. A survey found that as well as raising prices and increasing sales, the mark has helped to ensure social cohesion. However, while the trademark is informal, it lacks protection. Furthermore, experience shows that existing intellectual property tools tend to be unsuitable for protecting communities' collective intellectual property, and even "soft" intellectual property tools such as collective trademarks and geographical indications can be beyond the legal and financial capacity of remote rural communities. The report concludes with a proposal for an alternative indigenous "biocultural heritage indication" which could draw on geographical indications, design rights and unfair competition law. Such a tool could open up the current IPR system to rural communities, alleviating poverty while protecting traditional knowledge, and strengthening biological and cultural diversity. Download the report [pdf] … |
This week in review … UNESCO regional workshop focuses on indigenous knowledge on hydro-meteorological hazards and climate change adaptation Posted: 01 May 2013 04:09 AM PDT Asia-Pacific Workshop Focuses on Indigenous Knowledge on Hydro-meteorological Hazards and Climate Change Adaptation MANILA, PHILIPPINES: Held from 18-21 April 2013 in Manila, Philippines, the regional workshop on "Integrating Local and Indigenous Knowledge related to Hydro-meteorological Hazards and Climate Change Adaptation with Scientific Knowledge: Lessons learned" concluded the second phase of the UNESCO project on "Strengthening Resilience of Coastal and Small Island Communities towards Hydro-meteorological Hazards and Climate Change Impacts. The workshop aimed to: share challenges, experiences, and lessons learned in the process of developing and piloting self-assessment tools for communities, as well as in developing educational and awareness raising materials; and discuss and finalize workplans of activities for the third phase of the project. Read the article … Read the UNESCO press release … Visit the project webpage … |
This week in review … EurActiv reports on European Parliament discussions on draft ABS regulation Posted: 01 May 2013 04:07 AM PDT EU ponders biopiracy law to protect indigenous people BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: A European Commission proposal for an EU regulation on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) is currently debated by the European Parliament. Rapporteur and Green MEP Sandrine Bélier cited as an example of ABS a German pharmaceutical company's dealings in South Africa: Pelargonium sidoides, a variety of geranium known for its antimicrobial and expectorant qualities, has been used traditionally by indigenous communities in South Africa for centuries to treat bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. It also stimulates the nervous system, so has been used in the treatment of AIDS and tuberculosis. In 2000, the German company Schwabe made significant profits on Umckaloabo, a product derived from the geranium, without compensating local communities. It then filed patents claiming exclusive rights to the medical use of the plant. But in 2010 the patents were cancelled following appeals from the African Centre for Biosafety in South Africa and the Bern Declaration in Switzerland, calling the patents "an illegitimate and illegal monopolization of genetic resources derived from traditional knowledge and a stark opposition to the Convention on Biodiversity." Bélier told EurActiv the new regulation should help protect biodiversity and ensure that indigenous and local communities are adequately compensated for their resource and their traditional know-how. Read the article … Download the proposed regulation [pdf] … Read an interview with Sandrine Bélier … |
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