Traditional Knowledge Bulletin |
- Meeting review: Assemblies of Member States of WIPO
- Resource: E-book on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore
- Meeting review: Interlaken Conference on community land and resource rights
- Resource: Climatic Change special issue on climate change and indigenous peoples in the US
- This week in review … UNPO organizes seminar on TK in the Hague
- This week in review … Article on threats for traditional farming innovations
Meeting review: Assemblies of Member States of WIPO Posted: 09 Oct 2013 04:07 AM PDT Decision: Matters Concerning the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) renewed the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) for the 2014-2015 biennium, and agreed on a schedule of sessions and a work programme for 2014. Under its renewed mandate, the IGC will continue to expedite its work with the objective of reaching agreement on a text(s) of an international legal instrument(s), which will ensure the effective protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. The IGC is requested to submit the text(s) of the international legal instrument(s) to the 2014 General Assembly which will, with a view to finalizing the text(s) within the biennium, take stock of and consider the text(s), progress made and decide on convening a Diplomatic Conference. The General Assembly took note of the possibility for members of the IGC to request studies or provide examples to inform its work, noting, however, that such examples and studies were not to delay progress or establish any preconditions to the negotiations. The IGC is expected to meet in February, April and July 2014. IGC 26, in February 2014, will be a five-day session on genetic resources, and is expected to be preceded by an Ambassadorial/Senior Capital-Based Officials meeting to share views on key policy issues relating to the negotiations to further inform and guide the process. IGC 27, in April 2014, will be a ten-day session focusing on traditional knowledge and then traditional cultural expressions. IGC 28, in July 2014, will be a three-day cross-cutting session, addressing all three themes, which will take stock of progress made and make a recommendation to the General Assembly in September 2014. Despite agreement on the IGC mandate and other issues including the convening of a diplomatic conference for the adoption of a revised Lisbon Agreement on appellations of origin and geographical indications in 2015, Member States were unable to agree on WIPO's programme and budget, including the establishment of new external offices, and some other issues. An extraordinary meeting is expected to convene in December 2013, to conclude outstanding items before the end of the current biennium. Download the decision on the IGC mandate [pdf] … Read WIPO's press release on the Assemblies … Read an IP Watch article of 3 October 2013 … |
Resource: E-book on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore Posted: 09 Oct 2013 04:05 AM PDT The Guide for the Perplexed Entering the Maze of Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore Authored by two scientists and published under a Creative Commons license, this unusual e-book aims to help "readers/fellow-travellers" to "find a useful and interesting exploratory path through … the huge and ill-defined genetic resources and traditional knowledge and folklore space" and "to find a satisfactory way out of it, at the end." The authors note they do not imply that the only way to visit and explore these issues is theirs; but they "immodestly believe that the exploratory trip" they propose "will be more amusing and, being less serious, more intensely useful." Following an introduction to the guide and the methodology used, chapters explore: the present situation, IPRs on one side, TK on the other side; the origins and motivations at the roots of WHO's involvement in traditional medical knowledge (TMK); TMK in all of its glory and obscurities; loss of control on the TMK methodological paradigm; from TMK to GRTKF and perhaps GRTKFR; alternatives to IPRs?; and conclusions. The authors can be contacted at twokamikaze2@yahoo.com. Download the e-book [doc] … Read an IP Watch article on the e-book … |
Meeting review: Interlaken Conference on community land and resource rights Posted: 09 Oct 2013 04:03 AM PDT International Conference on Scaling-Up Strategies to Secure Community Land and Resource Rights "Scaling-Up Strategies to Secure Community Land and Resource Rights: An International Conference to Take Stock of Current Efforts, Identify Promising Strategies, and Catalyze New Alliances and Action" aimed to increase the profile and prioritization of community land rights as a global concern and secure commitments to take these strategies forward. The co-organizers, including Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), International Land Coalition (ILC), Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and Oxfam, called on the international community to set a goal of doubling the amount of community land recognized and secured in the next five years. Participants met in plenary and in strategy sessions to discuss the five following themes to securing community land and resource rights: mapping and documentation; legal recognition and empowerment; expanding and leveraging private sector interest in securing community land rights; making community land rights a global priority; and deepening synergies between community land and resource rights and conservation efforts. Strategies emerging from these sessions include: producing a global community land tenure map which identifies the population in each particular area and its boundaries; developing and sustaining national level conversations between all key stakeholders in clarified land rights, including the conservation community, and increasing the dialogue between community land rights and conservation organizations at the global level; identifying and leveraging those private sector actors who have come to recognize the importance of clarified land rights, and then promoting the best practices of these actors, while identifying and discouraging those actors who do not respect community land rights; understanding that legal empowerment has limited value if the legal system is not functional and continuing to invest in proven methods to strengthen legal systems and local governance; understanding that different cultures and systems of governance may not accept a one-size-fits-all approach; and developing ambitious indicators to measure progress on strengthening community land rights, in the context of the current discussions on a new development framework to be launched in 2015. Read the RRI press release … Read the IISD Reporting Services daily web coverage and summary report … Read an IPS article on the conference … |
Resource: Climatic Change special issue on climate change and indigenous peoples in the US Posted: 09 Oct 2013 04:01 AM PDT Climatic Change Special Issue: Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Impacts, Experiences and Actions The special issue, which includes 13 articles, concludes that tribes' traditional ecological knowledge can play a key role in developing scientific solutions to adapt to the impacts. "The partnerships between tribal peoples and their non-tribal research allies give us a model for responsible and respectful international collaboration," the authors say. The issue includes articles on: an introduction on climate change and indigenous peoples of the USA by Daniel R. Wildcat; justice forward: tribes, climate adaptation and responsibility by Kyle Powys Whyte; culture, law, risk and governance: contexts of traditional knowledge in climate change adaptation, by Terry Williams and Preston Hardison; the impacts of climate change on tribal traditional foods, by Kathy Lynn et all; indigenous frameworks for observing and responding to climate change in Alaska, by Patricia Cochran et al; climate change impacts on the water resources of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the US, by K. Cozzetto et al; climate change in arid lands and Native American socioeconomic vulnerability: the case of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, by Mahesh R. Gautam et al; the impact of climate change on tribal communities in the US: displacement, relocation and human rights, by Julie Koppel Maldonado et al; cultural impacts to tribes from climate change influences on forests, by Garrit Voggesser et al; changing streamflow on Columbia basin tribal lands – climate change and salmon, by Kyle Dittmer; exploring effects of climate change on Northern Plains American Indian health, by John T. Doyle et al; the effect of climate change on glacier ablation and baseflow support in the Nooksack River basin and implications on Pacific salmonid species protection and recovery, by Oliver Grah and Jezra Beaulieu; and rethinking colonialism to prepare for the impacts of rapid environmental change, by Nicholas James Reo and Angela K. Parker. Further information … Read an article on the issue in Science Daily … |
This week in review … UNPO organizes seminar on TK in the Hague Posted: 09 Oct 2013 03:58 AM PDT Seminar on Traditional Knowledge held in The Hague THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and Indigenous Movement organized a seminar on traditional knowledge and biocultural heritage of indigenous peoples' rights, on 27-28 September 2013, in The Hague, the Netherlands. The seminar focused, inter alia, on food, crop varieties, agricultural/farming practices, sustainable management of natural resources, and conservation of biological diversity and the benefits associated with the proper use of traditional knowledge. Read the release … |
This week in review … Article on threats for traditional farming innovations Posted: 09 Oct 2013 03:56 AM PDT Traditional innovation in farming is under threat LONDON, UK: In this opinion piece, IIED's Krystyna Swiderska argues that Communities that live close to nature continually create innovative approaches in farming and other sectors by building on knowledge and practices refined over generations. For instance, farmers around the world experiment with local crops to develop varieties that cope better with drought or pests. This kind of innovation does not fit easily into policy frameworks. But its value will grow as the climate changes and population increases bring more mouths to feed. Yet the biological and cultural diversity this innovation depends on is in steep decline. And modern systems of farming threaten to swamp traditional innovation. Now more than ever, it needs to be recognised and protected. Read the article … |
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