Meeting review: WIPO IGC-14

14th session of WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
29 June – 3 July 2009 (Geneva, Switzerland)

This session of WIPO’s IGC focused on the renewal of its mandate for the 2010-2011 biennium, without reaching agreement on a roadmap for future work. At the basis of discussions was a proposal by the African Group suggesting that the future work of the IGC should comprise “text-based negotiations”, conclude with the adoption of an “internationally legally binding instrument/s”, and be undertaken through a “defined work program and time frame, including the holding of intersessional work sessions.” The WIPO General Assembly will take up the matter of the IGC’s mandate at its September 2009 session. The session started with a panel session on “Indigenous and Local Community Initiatives in Protecting Traditional Knowledge, Traditional Cultural Expressions and Genetic Resources: Applying the Practical Lessons of Community Experience.”

Indigenous groups continued to push for full and effective participation in the IGC. In its opening statement, the Indigenous Consultative Forum stressed that any future work must fully guarantee that indigenous peoples’ participation will be upheld and respected, and reiterated that traditional knowledge cannot be protected without protecting the rights of the knowledge holders themselves. According to reports, indigenous representatives were divided with regard to the African proposal on future work. While many supported it, five indigenous peoples’ organizations stressed that it is premature to determine whether an instrument should be legally binding or not, or to initiate text-based negotiations while full and effective participation of indigenous peoples is still lacking.

Read WIPO’s press release … Read past panel presentations on indigenous and local community experiences … Read the IP Watch reports on the meeting of 30 June, 3 July, and 6 July 2009 … Watch a video interview with Terry Williams of the Tulalip Tribes … Read a TK Community post, 1 July 2009 … Download the Indigenous Consultative Forum opening statement [doc] … Download the five organizations’ statement on future work [doc] …

 

Resource: IIED briefing on TK protection

Protecting traditional knowledge from the grassroots up
Krystyna Swiderska, IIED, 29 June 2009

Published on the eve of the WIPO IGC session, this briefing, based on participatory research with indigenous and local communities, concludes that existing intellectual property standards are not appropriate for TK protection because these standards have been developed to suit commercial interests. IIED and partner organisations in India, China, Panama, Peru and Kenya looked at what it would mean to protect traditional knowledge and associated genetic resources according to customary laws and practices and how to recognise this approach in law and policy, and identified key policy components, including: recognition of collective rights and decision-making; means of sharing benefits equitably among communities; recognition of customary rights over genetic resources such as crop varieties that communities have developed; enabling reciprocal access to genetic resources between users and communities; and managing external access to traditional knowledge with community protocols. It was also stressed that ancestral rights to control knowledge cannot be extinguished, even if knowledge has been shared with others, because of its vital role in survival and identity. Read IIED’s press release … Download the briefing [pdf] …

 

Resource: Analysis of new ITPGR resolution on farmers’ rights

New resolution on Farmers’ Rights under the International Treaty
Farmers’ Rights Project, July 2009

The Farmers’ Rights Project has provided a brief analysis of the negotiations and resolution on farmers’ rights adopted at the third session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, held from 1-5 June 2009, in Tunis, Tunisia, as well as background material and information on a side-event on farmers’ rights. It is recalled that according to the Treaty, measures to promote farmers’ rights include the protection of traditional knowledge relevant to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Visit the webpage …

 

This week in review … Website to preserve and give access to Kenaitze wisdom

Learning without walls: Project blends traditional knowledge, new technology
Peninsula Clarion, 3 July 2009

ALASKA, USA: The Kenaitze Indian Tribe has decided to develop a new website and other resources, including language materials, books and videos, and draft a cultural management resource plan, in order the revitalize Kenaitze customs, language, traditions and wisdom. Cultural and educational program director Sasha Lindgren was particularly optimistic about how the tribe would benefit from the website, which highlights Dena’ina language and history, provides resource material and instructive tools for teachers and students and offers tribal members an opportunity to preserve and share their history, stories and photos. The website will also feature a “community archive,” and the tribe acquired several pieces of high-end technology to aid in the collection process. Lindgren said the tribe believes it is a better to digitize everything important, so that people around the world can have access to their precious knowledge. Everyone will have access to the website, but some aspects of the archive – such as family histories and other personal information – will be restricted to tribal members only. Read the article …

 

Resource: ICIMOD booklet on mountain biodiversity and climate change

Biodiversity and Climate Change in the Himalayas: Sustainable Mountain Development no 55 (2009)
ICIMOD, Spring 2009

This publication includes articles on linking traditional ecological knowledge systems with modern approaches for conserving mountain biodiversity; and acknowledging the contribution of mountain communities. Download the publication [pdf] …

 

This week in review … Traditional knowledge to guide Canada’s Peace Athabasca Delta plan

Traditional Knowledge to Guide Delta Plan
Slave River Journal, 29 June 2009

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA: For the first time in Canada, Aboriginal traditional knowledge will be a precursor to western science in the creation of an environmental monitoring report: the Peace Athabasca Delta Environmental Monitoring Program will use traditional knowledge to determine the scientific questions related to the ecological health of the Peace Athabasca Delta, questions that western science will then be tasked with answering. Traditional knowledge holders, typically elders who use the delta on a day-to-day basis, will be interviewed to determine the history of the area and the changes that are taking place. From that work scientists will know what areas need to be studied. Read the article …

 

This week in review … University professor to study changes in traditional medicine

Researcher Begins Work on Preservation and Adaptation of Indigenous Medicine
University of Arizona press release, 30 June 2009

ARIZONA, USA: University of Arizona assistant professor Patrisia Gonzales, a practitioner and teacher of Mexican traditional medicine and herbalist descending from several generations of indigenous healers, will study the evolution and adaptation of indigenous medicine, by gathering opinions on those adaptations from indigenous elders and healers. The project also includes training a graduate student in indigenous research methods to preserve traditional curing methods. Read the article …

 

Funding opportunity: CBD Alliance calls for applicants to follow the CBD Article 8(j) process

Call for applicants
CBD Alliance, June 2009

The CBD Alliance has circulated a call for applicants coming from community-based, civil society and especially indigenous peoples’ organizations to apply for two funding slots to follow the CBD Article 8(j) process.

The first slot would be for one-time funding for the upcoming sixth meeting of the CBD Working Group on Article 8(j), to take place from 2-6 November 2009, in Montreal, Canada. Applicants for this slot need not be familiar with the international level work but should clearly have done some work nationally/locally on this issue and demonstrate that they can benefit from exposure to the international level meeting, as well as be able to take what they learn back to their community/locality/nation. Download the application [pdf] …

The second slot would be for consistent funding to cover all Working Group meetings up to CBD COP 10, to be held in October 2010, in Nagoya, Japan. Applicants for this slot preferably have clear expertise in international level work, and have expertise both nationally and locally on this issue. In addition, funding would be available for this participant to be able to conduct national work and to write briefing/policy papers on the issue. Download the application [pdf] …

Applications, including a supporting letter from applicants’ organization, should be submitted to: reachmiriam [at] earthlink.net, by no later than 20 July 2009, 9:00 am Pacific Standard Time.