Natural Justice Hosted an Access and Benefit-Sharing Preparation Meeting with Khoi and San Communities Concerning Rooibos

Natural Justice’s Cape Town office hosted preparatory meetings with stakeholders to the Rooibos access and benefit-sharing agreement discussions. The stakeholders present included representatives from the Rooibos farming communities of Wupperthal and Niewoudtsville, the National Khoi-San Council and the San Council of South Africa.

The purpose of the meetings was to (i) Conduct Access and Benefit Sharing training, (ii) Engage in legal consultation with the stakeholders respective lawyers on the negotiations and (iii) to prepare the stakeholders for the broader access and benefit-sharing meeting with the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Rooibos Industry, scheduled for the afternoon of the 31^st of August.  The opportunity was also used to discuss with the communities the development of a Biocultural Community Protocol on Rooibos.

The meetings commenced the morning of the 30^th of August and closed the afternoon of the 31^st of August. During the final session the stakeholders took the time to reflect and wrap up the discussions from the previous day, and they watched a short video introducing the concept of biocultural community protocols along with WIPO’s (World Intellectual Property Organization) resources around traditional knowledge.

The communities then met with the Rooibos Industry during the afternoon. This meeting was hosted and facilitated by the Department of Environmental Affairs at their Cape Town offices.

WIPO launches Draft TK Documentation Tool-Kit at UNPFII in New York

Photo credit: Q"apaj Conde

The World Intellectual Property Organization organised a side event during the Twelfth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues discussing the complex issue of documenting traditional knowledge (TK) and challenges and opportunities. During the side event WIPO presented its “Draft WIPO Traditional Knowledge Documentation Toolkit” which sets out practical information on safeguards and best practices for the protection of indigenous peoples´ intellectual property interests before, during and after TK documentation.

The program was moderated by Mr. Rama Rao Sankurathripat (Director, Cooperation Office WIPO) and featured the following panelists:

Mr. Q”apaj Conde, WIPO Indigenous Fellow, Aymara, Pluninational State of Bolivia.

Ms. Yolanda Teran, member Red de Mujeres Indígenas por la Biodiversidad, Kichua, Ecuador.

Ms. Lucy Mulenkei, Executive Director of the Indigenous Information Network (IIN), Masai. Kenya

Mr. Tuomas Aslak, Co-chair of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, Sami, Findland. 

DRAFT WIPO Toolkit on TK for Comment

While a wide range of tools have been developed to protect Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs), the focus has primarily been on documentation. With emerging concerns that documentation has potential effects on the rights, cultures and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities, partly through placing TK and TCEs in the ‘public domain’, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has produced a draft Traditional Knowledge Documentation Toolkit to address some of these concerns. WIPO is seeking input on the draft towards a final publication. 

The Toolkit seeks to offer practical guidance on how to undertake a TK documentation exercise as a process and how to address critical intellectual property-related issues and questions as they surface during this effort. The Toolkit primarily focuses on TK but much may also apply to TCEs. The Toolkit does not promote documentation or suggest any one approach to intellectual property management, but rather offers a menu of alternatives to be taken into account in documentation projects and efforts. 

A summary of the consultation draft of the Toolkit can found here, and the Toolkit can be downloaded in English here (drafts in Spanish and French are being prepared). Comments and suggestions should be sent to grtkf@wipo.int.

WIPO Indigenous Fellowship - Applications Open

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is seeking expressions of interest from indigenous individuals for the WIPO Indigenous Fellowship for 2013. The Fellowship seeks to build on a series of initiatives to ensure that Indigenous peoples are actively and effectively involved in the work of WIPO on issues that matter to them.

Fellows will work under the Director of the Traditional Knowledge Division of WIPO to assist in outreach to Indigenous peoples and local communities on intellectual property issues, contribute to and participate in the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, assist in planning and undertaking WIPO activities relevant to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, carry out relevant research and draft and prepare WIPO documents, and perform tasks that may be required in the context of the work of the Division. 

Continuing Negotiations on Traditional Cultural Expressions Legal Instrument

The World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Intergovernmental Commission’s (IGC) negotiations on the draft text of an international legal instrument on the protection of traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) continued from 13-17 July, 2012. The WIPO Secretariat announced that good progress was made on the definition of protectable TCEs, the identification of beneficiaries, and exceptions and limitations to the scope of protection. An informal expert group has been established to reduce the number of options in the text. The text will be shared with the WIPO General Assembly as a work in progress when it meets in October 2012. The General Assembly will consider the need for additional IGC meetings and decide whether to convene a Diplomatic Conference. 

There is still no consensus on whether the negotiations will result in three separate instruments on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, or if there will be one combined instrument. There is also disagreement around the nature of the instrument(s), namely whether they will be legally binding or not. 

While representatives of indigenous peoples were allocated a greater role in the discussions, they were not able to achieve the changes in the WIPO rules that they sought. The Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus released a closing statement expressing their disappointment that the IGC ‘has not substantive and concrete steps to ensure the full, equal, and direct participation of Indigenous Peoples in WIPO Processes that affect us.’ 

A summary of the proceedings can be found here. The meeting documents can be found here. The Indigenous Peoples' Caucus's closing statement can be found here. 

Natural Justice Collaborates with the Department of Science and Technology (SA)

Johanna von Braun and Kabir Bavikatte were invited to Pretoria by the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) to discuss the possibilities of future collaboration between DST's work on indigenous knowledge systems and Natural Justice. The DST was represented by its Director General Prof. Yonah Seleti, Hlupheka Chabalala of the National Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Tom Suchanandan, Director: Advocacy and Policy Development. The meeting discussed the work of Natural Justice in the context of bio-cultural protocols and traditional knowledge commons. The meeting concluded with an agreement on 4 key areas of collaboration:

1) A joint proposal by DST and Natural Justice to develop the first small pilot on traditional knowledge commons in South Africa
2) A proposal for a scoping study to be conducted by Natural Justice on the possible development of traditional knowledge based first aid kits by the Bushbuckridge Traditional Health Practioners Association based on their bio-cultural protocol. This scoping study will be the basis of a larger proposal to national and international donors to seek financing for a larger project that would be implemented by Natural Justice, the DST and a range of local partners in the Bushbuckridge region.
3) A Natural Justice proposal to provide legal advice to the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) in its engagement with a community in the Northern Cape for further research on a local medicinal plant used by the community. Part of the proposal will be the development of a bio-cultural protocol based on which an ABS agreement could be entered into between the MRC and the community for the use of their traditional knowledge relating to this plant.
4) Natural Justice was also asked to submit a proposal to develop a feasibility study for the DST on a South African law dealing with Sui Generis Systems to protect traditional knowledge. The law would have to be developed in the context of the various other laws in South Africa that refer to traditional knowledge.

The high point of the meeting was a strong support by the DST for bio-cultural community protocols as the way forward to protect community knowledge and resources and a readiness to make bio-cultural protocols national policy through the potential South African sui generis law. The meeting also explored ways in which Natural Justice and the DST could collaborate on the ongoing negotiations at the WIPO IGC.

WIPO: 15th Session of the IGC

Natural Justices seem to be everywhere this week. Not only are they in Copenhagen for COP 15 and Cairo for the Pan African Regional on ABS but also Geneva, Switzerland for WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). Gino Cocchiaro, an associate of Natural Justice, has attended the week long negotiations, which will be the first since the IGC’s new mandate that includes a call to submit to the WIPO General Assembly text (or texts) of an international instrument (or instruments) to ensure the effective protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions by 2011, has come into force. Natural Justice is eager to see whether this historically protracted process will gather pace given the new mandate and spur parties to fruitful text-based negotiations on the proposed international instrument.