Kukula Healers Review 2012 & Plan for 2013

On 6-7 December 2012, Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) attended a meeting of the Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association in Thulamahashe, South Africa. The Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners, a group of over 300 traditional health practitioners who developed a biocultural community protocol (BCP) in 2009, were meeting to discuss and evaluate their activities completed in 2012 as well as highlighting their aims for 2013. 

Accomplishments from 2012 included: registering as a NPO in South Africa; drafting a code of ethics for all members of the Kukula Association; creating a traditional knowledge common pool where individual knowledge is shared amongst members and with a local cosmetics company interested in the research and development of the knowledge; and collaborating with  Kruger National Park in its anti-rhino poaching efforts. In 2013, Kukula members plan to update their BCP to reflect legal developments and new priorities, to continue to develop their relationship with the cosmetics company towards and access and benefit sharing agreement, to continue to work for formal recognition as traditional health practitioners, to distribute copies of the code of ethics to all members, and to continue to support anti-poaching efforts.  The Kukula Association are also members of the African BCP Initiative and will continue to to seek the protection and growth of their knowledge, culture and the conservation of biodiversity in their area. 

Download the Kukula BCP here. 

BIOPAMA Regional Workshop - Eastern & Southern Africa

Via www.iucn.org

From 4-6 December, 2012, Gino Cocchiaro of Natural Justice attended the regional workshop for southern and eastern Africa on the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme in Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop provided a forum for participants and stakeholders from protected areas, governments and civil society to support the planning of BIOPAMA, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the European Commission Joint Research Centre, and the Access and Benefit Sharing Capacity Development Initiative (ABS Initiative). 

Gino and Suhel al-Janabi (ABS Initiative) presented on ABS case studies, including a discussion on how the Traditional Health Practitioners of Bushbuckridge are using their biocultural community protocol to work towards a potential ABS agreement with a cosmetics company. Other sessions included presentations and discussion on regional reference information systems, refining and addressing capacity development needs, and the drafting of an action plan for the regional implementation of BIOPAMA including the identification of priority activities, identification of key national and regional stakeholders, and agreed processes for collecting data and information. 

Learn more about BIOPAMA at its website here and through its introductory brochure in English, Spanish and French.

Nouveau film intitulé "Protocoles bioculturels communautaires: Articulant et Affirmant l'intendance des communautés"

Au moment où les protocoles bioculturelles communautaires se propagent dans le monde entier comme moyen d’auto-affirmation et de protection juridique des communautés, un nouveau film intitulé «Protocoles bioculturels communautaires: Articulant et Affirmant l'intendance des communautés» vient d’être diffusé. Le film a été réalisé par Sanjay Barnela et produit par Natural Justice, en collaboration avec Moving Images, Inde. Ce film a bénéficié du soutien financier de la Fondation Shuttleworth. Le film s’inspire de l’expérience de deux communautés, les tradipraticiens de Bushbuckridge, en Afrique du Sud, et la communauté Raika du Rajasthan, en Inde. 

Le film est accessible ici. Pour en savoir plus sur les protocoles communautaires cliquez ici. Le Protocole communautaire de Bushbuckridge peut être téléchargé ici et celui des Raika ici.

Película sobre Protocolos Comunitarios Bioculturales disponible con subtítulos en español

Como los protocolos comunitarios bioculturales siguen propagándose en todo el mundo como forma de auto articulación comunitaria y protección legal, una nueva película titulada 'Protocolos Comunitarios Bioculturales: Articulando y Affirmando la Custodia " ha sido liberada con subtítulos en español. La película fue dirigida por Sanjay Barnela y producida por Natural Justice, en colaboración con Moving Images, India. La película fue financiada por la Fundación Shuttleworth.

La película sigue las experiencias de dos comunidades, los curanderos tradicionales de Bushbuckridge, Sudáfrica, y la comunidad Raika de Rajasthan, India. La película está disponible aquí. Más informaciones acerca de los protocolos comunitarios están disponibles aquí, en inglés. El PCB Bushbuckridge se puede descargar aquí y el PCB Raika se puede descargar aquí, ambos en inglés.

En relación a los PCB, Natural Justice también disponibiliza, en español, el Protocolo Comunitario Biocultural del Alto San Juan, Colombia, que encontrase aquí.