TKC Consultations in Cali

At the current ABSWG9 negotiations in Cali, Colombia, Natural Justice's Gino Cocchiaro, Kabir Bavikatte, and Johanna von Braun have been holding consultations with various representatives of indigenous peoples and local communities and the research sector to discuss the possibility of implementing a Traditional Knowledge Commons system. The aim of the consultations was to obtain comments and recommendations on the TK Commons model and the draft of Natural Justice's most recent TK Commons publication. The draft publication, "Implementing a Traditional Knowledge Commons: Opportunities and Challenges", is an extensively revised and expanded version of the 2009 monograph, "Imagining a TK Commons". Following the TK Commons workshop in Cape Town on December 14-15, 2009, it critically analyzes the issues that must be addressed for such a system to be functional. Comments and recommendations from the consultations held in Cali will be added to the publication, which will be released at the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice in Nairobi in May, 2010.