Bushbuckridge Traditional Health Practitioners Engage with Local Company

Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) was in the Kruger to Canyons UNESCO Biosphere Reserve today to represent the Bushbuckridge Traditional Health Practitioners Association. The members of the Association were undergoing their first round of Access and Benefit Sharing negotiations with a local company, Silk SA, for the use of their traditional knowledge for the purposes of developing a cosmetic. The negotiations were successful and initial terms of a potential agreement were tentatively agreed to, subject to approval by the full membership of the Traditional Health Practitioners Association. The next round of negotiations between Silk SA and the Traditional Health Practitioners Association is scheduled for November, 2010. More information on the Bushbuckridge Traditional Healers and their bio-cultural community protocol can be found here.

African Workshop on Community Protocols Wraps Up

The second and final day of the meeting of the representatives of African Indigenous and Local Communities and Community Based Organizations on Bio-Cultural Community Protocols was held on September 3rd in Cape Town, South Africa. Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) began the day with a presentation on community protocols (and the processes that they could be used in) as a tool to assist communities in engaging with the laws that affect them.

African Workshop on Community Protocols Kicks Off

A two-day meeting on bio-cultural community protocols started today, bringing together a range of representatives of African Indigenous peoples, local communities, and community-based organizations (CBOs).

The aim of the meeting is three-fold: first, to review existing rights based approaches (RBAs) to biological resources and traditional knowledge; second, to evaluate the potential of bio-cultural community protocols to improve existing RBAs in their efforts to secure, for example, free, prior and informed consent with respect to any activities undertaken that affect the community’s tangible and intangible resources; and third, to discuss the viability and utility of establishing an African collective of indigenous peoples, local communities, and CBO networks that will coordinate activities, share experiences, create linkages, and develop capacity on the use of community protocols at the community, national, and regional level.

Day 3 of the African ILC Prep Meeting

The Second African Indigenous and Local Communities (ILC) Preparatory Meeting on Access and Benefit Sharing and Traditional Knowledge wrapped up on the 1st of September. The 3-day Pan-African meeting, supported by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa and hosted by Natural Justice, was attended by over 40 ILC representatives and representative organizations from 25 countries in Africa. Over the three days, the participants exchanged their experiences on bio-prospecting and bio-piracy and discussed the status of negotiations on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (IRABS) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with a focus on traditional knowledge.

Day 2 of the African ILC Prep Meeting

The second day of the Pan-African ILC Preparatory Meeting on Access and Benefit Sharing and Traditional Knowledge continued on August 31st. Participants began with a detailed update, provided by John Scott (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity) on the draft decisions arising from the 6th meeting of the Ad-Hoc Open-Ended Inter-Sessional Working Group on Article 8(j) and related provisions that will be considered at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the CBD, which will take place in October in Nagoya, Japan. Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) then presented on the draft protocol of the International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), with a focus on the areas concerning traditional knowledge. Over the next 2 days, participants will comment on the draft decisions of the working groups on Article 8(j) and ABS. These comments will be provided to the African Group of negotiators to the CBD in order to guide them during their negotiations in Nagoya, Japan.

Olivier Rukundo (GTZ and Natural Justice Associate) completed the day with an overview of the current negotiations within the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Inter-governmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) and highlighted the importance of indigenous peoples and local communities being actively involved in these negotiations.

Day 1 of the African ILC Prep Meeting

Nigel Crawhall (left) from IPACC and IUCN-TILCEPA

and Lucy Mulenkei (right) from IIN.

On August 30, participants representing Indigenous peoples and local communities from about 25 countries in Africa began a busy first day of the Second African ILC Preparatory Meeting on Access and Benefit Sharing and Traditional Knowledge with an overview of the ABS process. The participants heard from John Scott (CBD Secretariat) on the role of the Working Group on Article 8(j) and related provisions and Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) on the draft protocol on the International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (IRABS). Participants then spent the afternoon discussing and exchanging their local experiences with bio-prospecting and bio-piracy. Mathambo Ngakaeaja from the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) presented an in-depth history and lessons learnt from the San Hoodia case.

The meeting now moves into a detailed analysis of traditional knowledge within the CBD and World Intellecual Property Organization (WIPO) frameworks, including negotiations under the International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (IRABS) and Inter-Governmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), before the participants provide their recommendations to the African Group of Negotiators on the draft protocol on ABS.

Pan-African ILC Prep Meeting Begins Today

The Second African Indigenous and Local Communities (ILC) Preparatory Meeting on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and Traditional Knowledge begins today in Cape Town, South Africa. The 3-day Pan-African meeting, which is supported by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative for Africa and hosted by Natural Justice, will be attended by over 40 ILC representatives and representative organizations. The aims of the meeting are to facilitate the exchange of experiences on bio-prospecting and bio-piracy, to brief participants on the status of negotiations on the Convention on Biological Diversity International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing (IRABS) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with a focus on traditional knowledge (TK), to discuss the relevant draft decisions for the 10th Conference of the Parties of the CBD, and to develop an African ILC perspective on these draft decisions. Natural Justice will provide daily blog updates on the outcomes of the meeting.

New Publication: Implementing a TKC

Natural Justice, with the support of the ABS Capacity Initiative for Africa, has released its latest publication on the Traditional Knowledge Commons, following the December 2009 meeting of advocates of indigenous peoples and local communities and experts in intellectual property law and access and benefit sharing that aimed to consider the unique problems presented by non-commercial research related to traditional knowledge. "Implementing a Traditional Knowledge Commons: Opportunities and Challenges" critically analyzes the possibilities of bringing a first set of TK Commons pilot(s) into action, considering how it could be integrated into the broader national and international legal frameworks of traditional knowledge protection as a mechanism capable of facilitating the expanded flow of benefits generated by traditional knowledge-based non-commmercial research while simultaneously increasing recognition of and compliance with sui generis customary law. The digital version of the publication can be downloaded here.

News Article: "Our survival depends on indigenous knowledge"

In an August 20th opinion piece in Indian Country Today, Alvin Manitobpyes, a citizen of the Muskowekwan First Nation, reflects on the first International Roundtable Supporting Ancient Indigenous Knowledge that was held in May in Manitoba, Canada. He shares his thoughts on the sacred process of transmitting traditional knowledge through protocols of learning and sharing. He expresses his understanding of his people and other indigenous nations as having "original" knowledge about how to uphold and live according to natural laws and explores various forms of symbolism that root human actions and values within nature. He closes by stating, "Traditional knowledge is the very strength of our identity as indigenous peoples." The full article can be read here.

Strategizing for Livestock Keepers' Rights

An international LIFE Network meeting was held from August 13-15 in Kuttapalayam, India. The meeting was attended by around 60 representatives of communities, community-based organizations, and networks and sought to map the LIFE Network's strategy for a campaign on livestock keepers’ rights over the next few years. The meeting also explored the past, present, and future roles of bio-cultural community protocols in the campaign for livestock keepers rights'. The meeting included members of other livestock and pastoral networks, including the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP) and the Rainfed Livestock Network (RLN).