Traditional plant-based cures and therapies should be protected from exploitation by rich companies, and indigenous peoples should be fully involved in decisions about the legal status of generations-old knowledge.
These comments, from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), come three days ahead of new discussions hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The goal of the meeting is to come up with an international, legally-binding framework to protect such things as indigenous communities鈥� rights to the therapeutic properties of plants found in the Amazonian rainforest.
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Krystyna Swiderska of IIED told New Scientist that the representatives taking part in these discussions do not belong to the indigenous communities, and largely live in developed countries. They are therefore not in the best position to negotiate on their behalf, she says.
Abstract knowledge
Swiderska and colleagues would like WIPO to allow members of traditional communities to participate in negotiations on the same standing as government representatives. 鈥淎t WIPO, indigenous peoples have to wait until the end to say their bit,鈥� she explains.
Traditional knowledge is being addressed in an abstract way, and has been divorced from its cultural and ecological context, Swiderska says.
鈥淔or instance, WIPO discussions are focussing on the knowledge itself, the intellectual, intangible knowledge.鈥� But from the perspective of traditional communities, 鈥測ou can鈥檛 separate that knowledge from the biological resources to which the knowledge relates鈥�, she explains.
The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore kicks off in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday.
鈥淭hings are moving very, very slowly,鈥� Swiderska says, 鈥渂ut they are moving in the right direction.鈥�