Shifting Sands of ABS Best Practice: Hoodia from the community perspective

Kabir Bavikatte, Harry Jonas and Johanna von Braun

 

Following the filing of international patents by the state-owned Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and subsequent claims of biopiracy regarding the San’s traditional knowledge (TK) about the natural appetite suppressant in Hoodia, a benefit-sharing agreement was reached between the CSIR and the San in 2003. The San-Hoodia case is perhaps the most well known case of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) in the world. Having firsthand experience of working with the San, the authors conclude that ABS is a double-edged sword for communities. On the one hand it provided the San an opportunity to generate livelihoods and be rewarded for biodiversity stewardship. On the other, it presented them with conceptual and practical challenges relating to granting access to their TK according to prior informed consent (PIC); difficulties in negotiating the benefit-sharing agreement; and subsequent governance upheaval. The authors propose that by developing bio-cultural protocols communities are better placed to make informed decisions about whether or not to engage with ABS, and when they do, to ensure that their interests are best served. Bio-cultural protocols, the authors argue, provide communities an opportunity to articulate for themselves their understanding of their bio-cultural heritage and views on ABS, and communicate them to outside interests. Read the guest article …

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