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12 Int'l J. on Minority & Group Rts. 1 (2005)
Protecting Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Medicines of Indigenous Peoples through Intellectual Property Rights: Issues, Challenges and Strategies

handle is hein.journals/ijmgr12 and id is 7 raw text is: International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 12: 1-24, 2005.          1
© Koninklijke Brill NV. Printed in the Netherlands.
Protecting Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Medicines of
Indigenous Peoples through Intellectual Property Rights:
Issues, Challenges and Strategies
MPAZI S1NJELA AND ROBIN RAMCHARAN*
1. Introduction
One of the great issues of justice of our times is the validation and vindication
of the rights of indigenous people under international law, the protection of their
culture and lifestyles and the safeguarding of their intellectual property heritage.
There are an estimated 300 million indigenous people in over seventy countries
worldwide. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political character-
istics that are distinct from those of the dominant groups in their respective
societies. They have fought strenuously for the recognition of their identities,
nationally and internationally.
This study coincides with the final year of the United Nations Decade for
Indigenous peoples. A decade ago in its resolution 48/163 of 21 December 1993,
the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the Decade of the
Worlds' Indigenous People, from 10 December 1994.
A decade later, it is increasingly recognized that local, 'traditional knowledge'
(TK) or 'indigenous knowledge' (IK) constitutes part of the cultural and eco-
nomic wealth of both developing and developed countries.' Greater awareness is
forthcoming about the contributions that such knowledge can make to the process
of scientific advancement and technological change. TK systems exist in diverse
fields including food and agriculture, biodiversity conservation, nutrition and
medicine. Traditional medicines (TM) still constitute the most important source
of healing for much of the world's population living in poverty and distanced
from urban centers with sophisticated health systems. In this vein, the South
Centre calls attention to the fact that 85 to 90 per cent of the basic livelihood
needs of the world's poor are based on the direct use of biological resources (and
* Mpazi Sinjela is Director of the WIPO Worldwide Academy. Robin Ramcharan is a Consultant
with the Academy.
See W. Wendland, 'Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore: WIPO's
Exploratory Program' IIC, Vol. 33 (pp. 485-504) for a discussion of the definition of traditional
knowledge and related terms such as indigenous knowledge. See also J. Mugabe, 'Intellectual
Property Protection and Traditional Knowledge: An exploration in International Policy Discourse',
paper presented to a WIPO Seminar on Traditional Knowledge, 1998. <www.acts.or.ke>. Mugabe
notes that TK is broader than IK, which is narrower in scope but subsumed in the former.

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