DI Digest Idea 1May 96

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LitScan Press Review

1.	Traditional Knowledge
	As the world enters what's sometimes dubbed the sixth 'development decade', questions persist over what exactly development means for people who are tagged as 'poor' yet have well-developed knowledge systems and ways of life. The latest hot potato in international discussions on this topic is Traditional Knowledge or 'TK' - a subject absorbing an increasing amount of attention compared to longstanding concerns about land and political rights. The flood of recent TK talk has focused mostly on 'intellectual property rights' and how these might or might not apply to indigenous people, farmers, fisher folk and other often marginalized groups. This coincides, not surprisingly, with the ongoing global privatization of knowledge presided over by groups like the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). But stop a minute. Will the discussion proceed as if TK can be adequately addressed by applying western legal precepts to non-western cultures and parceling out some appropriate number of private copyrights? Indigenous and other people - their cultures and rights - first need to be respected. This has implications not only for the ownership of any development process, but also for the fair distribution of benefits when a group decides to share its TK with entrepreneurial outsiders. In Washington, DC and other western centres, 'model' contracts between local benefactors and foreign beneficiaries are now being promoted as one way of dividing up the pie more equitably. But some communities may decide that other issues - say land demarcation in Latin America - still deserve the highest local priority. If TK remains divorced from the wider imperatives of indigenous rights, WIPO et al. could wipe out the gains made by many other efforts. [TK as part of the wider context of traditional people's rights]
	co-management n. an idea, quite novel to most regulatory and some development agencies, that local communities and peoples should participate as partners in the management of their own resources cultural diversity n. presence of a range of different lifestyles, beliefs, knowledge systems and traditions trips n. trade related intellectual property rights, a hot theme in discussions of traditional biological knowledge
	Rural Advancement Foundation International and United Nations Development Programme. Conserving Indigenous Knowledge: Integrating Two Systems of Innovation: An Independent Study. New York: UNDP, 1994. 63 p.
NOT HOT -	TK as $$$ Alone
	Sometimes when people talk about traditional knowledge, you can see the dollar signs lighting up in their eyes. And its true - the pharmaceutical potential of many traditional medicines is enormous. The problem with this way of looking at the intellectual inheritance of other societies is that it's fundamentally selfish. It asks, "How can I benefit from the wisdom of others?", without giving anything back in return. Eli Lilly Corp. of the USA, for instance, makes around a hundred million dollars a year from the rosy periwinkle, a traditional Malagasy medicine for childhood leukemia - yet Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, doesn't see a red penny, The Earth Times recently reported.
*Virtual Ideas*	Marrying TK & western science - the Sanikiluaq and Walpole Island experiences More indigenous rights & knowledge links