Jun
30
2009
Sharing Benefits From Traditional Knowledge
Author: adminIn traditional communities, the knowledge and resources cannot be owned individually. These are communally held. In the case of specialized knowledge, these are held by certain individuals or families who pass it on to their progenies from generation to generation. Some are held by specialists such as shamans or medicine men or women. The practitioners of this knowledge are expected to hold this knowledge on behalf of the community in trust to be used for the welfare of the communities. These are not to be privatized or commoditized.
The issue of making this knowledge into intellectual property so that these can be traded as a commodity has come in for intense debate in recent times. What has come to emerge is that when such knowledge and related biodiversity is commercialized, the prior informed consent of the holders of the knowledge and related resources are to be obtained. The community should also receive a share in the profits from such commercialization. Governments are yet to incorporate these requirements in their respective national laws. However, these have now come to be recognized internationally as desirable principles.
When the biological materials and related knowledge, whether it is microorganisms, plants or animals, are acquired without the explicit prior informed consent of communities, then it is called biopiracy. It is implied that such acts are not ethical or moral. Hoodia gordonii, an African plant from the Kalahari Desert, became world renown for its role as an active appetite suppressant. This knowledge belonged to the San people. The Hoodia gordonii extract became the main ingredient for a number of weight loss products. When the media raked up the issue that neither were the San people acknowledged not were they given a share in the profit, this was soon rectified. There have been similar isolated cases of acknowledgement and benefit sharing as Arogyapacha in India.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the international instrument that enunciated prior informed consent, and access and benefit sharing as the principles to guide such commercial exploitation of traditional knowledge. CBD became an international instrument of law in 1993. CBD provided for the right of countries to its genetic resource and knowledge to regulate and control them. The bioprospectors who intend to access these resources and knowledge are to obtain prior informed consent. These accesses are to be controlled and regulated by the respective national governments. All the countries have ratified CBD except for Andorra, Brunei, Somalia, Iraq, and United States.
Tags: africa, african, african culture, ancient customs, biological diversity, commercial, culture, cures, customs, diet, educational, export, health, inport, obesity, reference, remedies, traditions, weight control, weight loss
