UK panel seeks greater protection for indigenous knowledge
25 February 1999
[LONDON]
The British government has been urged by its leading environment advisory panel to take a pro-active role in international discussions aimed at finding better ways to acknowledge and reward the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples over biological resources.
The recommendation comes from the government's six-member panel on sustainable development in its fifth annual report, published in London last week. Chaired by Sir Crispin Tickell, a former UK ambassador to the United Nations, the report raises a number of questions which, it says, need to be addressed in order to find "equitable arrangements" for achieving this goal.
"How should [indigenous people] be rewarded for their role, sometimes over centuries, in husbanding biodiversity and identifying the medicinal, nutritional and other properties of many species," the panel asks. "Should such knowledge be somehow brought within the scope of existing IPR regimes? Or it is better to develop sui generis arrangements?"
Another question, it says, is how should account be taken of the Convention on Biological Diversity in terms of access or benefit sharing for particular sections of society, such as indigenous or local communities, "A common definition of these communities is lacking and their legal, cultural and socio-economic circumstances differ widely".
The issue is already emerging, most recently in a statement adopted at a meeting in Bangalore, India, as one that is likely to figure prominently on the agenda of the World Conference of Science in Budapest. It is also highly controversial, as many see moves to strengthen intellectual property rights for indigenous people as cutting directly across the interests of multinational 'agrifood' and biotechnology companies,
Nevertheless Tickell says that it is "an issue that is coming fast up the political agenda," and describes as an "obvious injustice" the fact that that those responsible for looking after biological resources "do not seem to be able to get the same profits from them as those who look after mineral resources".
Speaking in a personal capacity, he says that he is convinced that the solution lies in the creation of a World Environment Organization, as first proposed last year by the then German chancellor Helmut Kohl. This would serve to balance the focus on economic issues - particularly in framing intellectual property agreements - that inevitably dominates the activities of the World Trade Organization.
"The two organizations would work in a complementary fashion to balance environmental and economic considerations," says Tickell. "If you have two organizations that are of equal weight, they have to do deals and reach compromises."
The question of whether - and if so how - Britain should take a stronger role in encouraging greater flexibility in intellectual property regimes is said to be currently under discussion between the Department of Environment, Transport and Roads, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Office of Science and Technology.
In its report, the panel also raises the related question of the way in which growing commercial interest in the potential value of genetic resources is having a growing impact on the collection and identification of genetic material in general, including research undertaken for purely scientific ends. It points out, for example, that many countries are introducing "control regimes" with which anyone seeking access to their genetic resources must comply.
"International work is under way, including under the auspices of the [biodiversity] convention, to share experience and work towards clear, appropriate and workable access and genetic-sharing campaigns," the panel says. It urges "continued government support for this work, in co-operation with the appropriate domestic and international interests."
DAVID DICKSON
 |  |  |  |
Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1999 Registered No. 785998 England.