Statement and Recommendations from the UNESCO International Year of Biodiversity Science Policy Conference
25 January – 29 January 2010 (Paris, France)

Organized in the framework of the International Year of Biodiversity, the UNESCO Biodiversity Science Policy Conference highlighted that “we must embrace … new technologies and develop efficient mechanisms for structuring and using them, while better acknowledging the valuable contributions that indigenous and local knowledge can provide.” The conference adopted a statement and recommendations, including priorities for and modalities of action on the role of indigenous and local knowledge in biodiversity conservation. Recommended actions include: enhancing the linkages between scientific and traditional local and indigenous knowledge related to biodiversity; and promoting transmission of local and indigenous knowledge on biodiversity, particularly within and through intercultural education, so as to ensure the continuity of local and indigenous taxonomy, knowledge and know-how. Download the statement and recommendations [pdf] …

Reite Plants: An Ethnobotanical Study in Tok Pisin and English
Porer Nombo and James Leach
Asia-Pacific Environment Monograph 4, Australian National University E Press (January 2010) | ISBN 978 19216 66001 / 978 19216 66018

The product of a long-term collaborative work between the authors, Reite Plants is a documentation and discussion of the uses of plants by speakers of the Nekgini language, a people who reside in the hinterland of the Rai Coast in northern Papua New Guinea. This dual-language book provides high quality images and detailed information about traditional customary practices using plants, as an entry into understanding Nekgini social and cultural life. The book also contains a discussion of the ownership of plant knowledge in the context of both local and contemporary global trends. Download the whole book or individual sections [pdf] …

A selection of intangible cultural heritage videos
UNESCO, 2009

This selection of videos highlights cases inscribed in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding, including, among others: traditions and practices associated to the Kayas in the sacred forests of the Mijikenda; traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges; and traditional Li textile techniques: spinning, dyeing, weaving and embroidering. View the videos …

List of selected indigenous and local community representatives to receive funding from the Voluntary Trust Fund for participation in the ninth meeting of the Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing
22 March – 28 March 2010 (Cali, Colombia)

The CBD Secretariat has completed the selection of representatives of indigenous and local communities to receive financial assistance in support of the participation to the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group. Download the notification, including list of beneficiaries [pdf] …

Indigenous and local community negotiators meeting
13 March – 15 March 2010 (Cali, Colombia)

Following an initiative of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) and with the financial support of the government of Spain, this meeting will be held prior to the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group and will be facilitated by the CBD Secretariat. The names of indigenous and local community representatives from the seven geo-cultural regions who will participate in the meeting have been provided by the IIFB. Download the notification, including the list of participants [pdf] …

International Conference on Traditional Knowledge
13 November 2009 (New Delhi, India)

The presentations made at this meeting, including on the state of play in the international protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the protection at the national and community level, are now available online. Visit the meeting webpage, including presentations …

Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore: Sixteenth Session
3 May – 7 May 2010 (Geneva, Switzerland)

According to an IGC-15 decision, the WIPO Secretariat has made available in draft form documents on: the protection of traditional cultural expressions (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/16/4 Prov.); the protection of traditional knowledge: revised objectives and principles (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/16/5 Prov.); and genetic resources: revised list of options (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/16/6 Prov.). Comments on these preliminary drafts may be transmitted to the Secretariat at grtkf (at) wipo.int by 28 February 2010. Visit the meeting webpage, including preliminary drafts …

Landmark decision rules Kenya’s removal of indigenous people from ancestral land illegal
Minority Rights Group International press release, 4 February 2010

BANJUL, THE GAMBIA: In a landmark decision, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has found the Kenyan government guilty of violating the rights of the country’s indigenous Endorois community, by evicting them from their lands to make way for a wildlife reserve. The decision creates a major legal precedent by recognizing, for the first time in Africa, indigenous peoples’ rights over traditionally owned land and their right to development. The decision was adopted by the African Commission in May 2009 and approved by the African Union at its January 2010 meeting in Addis Ababa. The Endorois are a semi-nomadic indigenous community of approximately 60,000 people, who for centuries have earned their livelihoods from herding cattle and goats in the Lake Bogoria area of Kenya’s Rift Valley. Since the creation of the wildlife reserve, the Endorois have been unable to gather the plants they once relied on for medicinal purposes, conduct religious ceremonies at their sacred sites or visit the graves of their ancestors. Read the press release … Download the decision [pdf] …

Modern and mobile. The future of livestock production in Africa’s drylands
Helen de Jode (ed.)
IIED and SOS Sahel International UK (January 2010) | ISBN 978-1-84369-752-7

This book is about the critical role mobile livestock keeping plays in the economic prosperity of Africa’s drylands. Pastoralism relies on unique production strategies, with the ability to move being the most crucial. Although moving has become a serious problem, new thinking, new policies and innovative practices for pastoralist mobility are beginning to take root in many parts of dryland Africa. The book includes numerous examples of the deep indigenous knowledge that informs pastoral systems. Policy-making processes need to be informed by this knowledge, and will benefit from the experiences and insights of pastoralists and their representatives. Download the book [pdf] …

Handheld field computers record Inuit knowledge
Nunatsiaq online, 4 February 2010

NUNAVUT, CANADA: The Igliniit Project has produced a programme for a pocket computer to record weather data and hunters’ observations while on the land. Using a stylus on the touch-screen, hunters can record what they encounter while hunting or traveling. The machine has icons for a variety of Arctic animals, as well as weather conditions, ice conditions, and even garbage, all through a pictographic interface in both English and Inuktitut syllabics. It also has an external weather sensor, which can be mounted on a snow machine or dog sled. The sensor takes readings of air pressure, humidity and temperature every 30 seconds. The weather data combined with the hunters’ observations has the potential to produce an enormous amount of raw data on areas of the Arctic seldom visited by researchers. But as the money from the International Polar Year’s research winds down, Igliniit looks to new resources to continue its work. Read the article …

I know I’m a bit late with this post, but I think it’s important anyway.

Remember a while back I posted about the small Eastern Cape community of Alice who were challenging the German pharma giant Schwabe over their patenting of a remedy made from the roots of pelargonium sidoides and pelargonium reniforme –  that’s geraniums to you and me.

Well, in a thrilling case of little-guy-from-SA-backwater-takes-on-giant-baddies-and-wins, the European Patent Office last month revoked the  patent that Schwabe had applied for, which would have protected a method of processing the roots of the plants to get the desired extract.

According to this article in the Dispatch, a local Eastern Cape paper, the Germans are looking to fight the ruling, and, considering the resources they have available, they might win. But, I think this sets a great precedent, and hopefully more test cases like this one will appear, so we can work out a safe, innovative traditional knowledge and patent policy for this country.

Pic: Geranium by jurek d. on Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Winter sky over the Deccan plateau, India

From late 2003 to early 2005 I was part of a small group in south Nagaland (in India’s north-east region) conducting a study on natural resource management and the prospects for tourism in the region. The study was funded by a Indian central government ministry, was ’supervised’ by the state government and was made possible by the village community of Khonoma, in the Naga hills.

At around the mid-point of our study, when the time had come for the paddy seedlings to be transplanted, that the convergence of climate change and scarce labour resources became obvious. The seedlings were not ready to be moved at the time of year they were usually expected to be. By the time they were, the extra labour each rice farming family had mobilised in preparation for the hard work ahead, had their regular jobs and occupations to return to. The hill villages were in turmoil. Practically every single family that had a plot of terraced rice field to attend to was caught in a dilemma.

If they insisted that those who had come to the villages to help them – daughters, sons, cousins or aunts – stay back to complete the work, those helpful souls would certainly lose salaries and wages. If they let them return, they would have to look for very scarce hired labour, whose per day wage was high and which would certainly rise given the scarcity of hands available and time. It was for most families a Hobson’s choice, and by either reckoning only made the socio-economic cost of rice cultivation dearer. This was the most dramatic impact of climate change that I saw at the time, for the shift in transplanting season was considered very odd indeed by the villages, almost unprecedented.

Extracting riverbed sand in North Goa, India

We know now that local observations of direct effects of climate change by tribal populations and indigenous peoples corroborate scientific predictions. In a very real sense, indigenous peoples are the advance guard of climate change. They observe and experience climate and environmental changes first-hand, and are already using their traditional knowledge and survival skills – the heart of their cultural resilience – to respond. Moreover, they are doing this at a time when their cultures and livelihoods are already undergoing significant stresses not only due to the environmental changes from climate change, but from the localised pressures and economic impulses of global trade and movement of capital.

The United Nations University’s Institute of Advanced Study has just released an advance copy of what promises to be a goldmine of such observation. The volume is entitled ‘Advance Guard: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, Mitigation and Indigenous Peoples – A Compendium of Case Studies’. The 402 case studies summarised in this densely packed volume mention a host of specific vulnerabilities and early effects of climate change being reported by indigenous peoples (and these include cultural and spiritual impacts): demographic changes, including displacement from their traditional lands and territories; economic impacts and loss of livelihoods; land and natural resource degradation; impacts on food security and food sovereignty; health issues; water shortages; and loss of traditional knowledge.

The cover graphic of the UNU-IAS compilation 'Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation, Mitigation and Indigenous Peoples'

Impacts are felt across all sectors, including agriculture and food security; biodiversity and natural ecosystems; animal husbandry (particularly pastoralist lifestyles); housing, infrastructure and human settlements; forests; transport; energy consumption and production; and human rights. The entire range of effects on habitats and their biomes are supplied: temperature and precipitation changes; coastal erosion; permafrost degradation; changes in wildlife, pest and vector-borne disease distribution; sea-level rise; increasing soil erosion, avalanches and landslides; more frequent extreme weather events, such as intense storms; changing weather patterns, including increasing aridity and drought, fire and flood patterns; and increased melting of sea-ice and ice-capped mountains.

“In spite of these impacts,” states the UNU-IAS compilation, “indigenous peoples also have a variety of successful adaptive and mitigation strategies to share. The majority of these are based in some way on their traditional ecological knowledge, whether they involve modifying existing practices or restructuring their relationships with the environment. Their strategies include application and modification of traditional knowledge; shifting resource bases; altering land use and settlement patterns; blending of traditional knowledge and modern technologies; fire management practices; changes in hunting and gathering periods and crop diversification; management of ecosystem services; awareness raising and education, including use of multimedia and social networks; and policy, planning and strategy development.”

From Asia, I’ve picked out three cases which illustrate just how important it is to observe and learn from these responses:

BANGLADESH | Indigenous forecasting in Maheshkhali, using meteorological indicators and animal behaviour to predict cyclones. Maheshkhali Island is situated off the Bay of Bengal coast with an area of approximately 60 square km. Cyclones are the greatest disaster threat of coastal people. Research has revealed that certain indigenous prediction capacity possessed by the local people always helped them to anticipate cyclones and take necessary precautions. The indigenous cyclone prediction is even more important as it was revealed during interviews with the Maheskhali islanders that they do not understand the modern warning system with its different numerical codes (1-10) and elaboration on wind direction, as explained in the warning bulletins.

Buffalo at work, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, India

INDIA | Indigenous forecasting in India using meteorological indicators, plant features and animal behaviour. Researchers from Gujarat Agricultural University have evaluated eight indigenous forecasting beliefs between 1990 to 1998. For each year, the data was tabulated and analysed on the basis of Bhadli’s criteria. Based on the findings the researchers concluded that many of the beliefs are reliable indicators of monsoon. The study has helped to restore the people’s confidence in their own traditional knowledge and skills. As climate change occurs, these traditional forecasting indicators may change. Locals have to continue their observations and adjust their predictions accordingly to ensure that correct coping mechanisms will be applied.

INDONESIA | Customary Iban Community. This study examines the social and institutional practices of a sedentary Iban sub-tribe in the upstream part of the Kapuas system in governing their life. In 2008, the Sungai Utik community acquired a formal, recognition of their institutional capacity to live at the center of one of the most complex ecosystems that is the tropical rainforest of Kalimantan. The Indonesian Eco-label Institute provided the community logging practice of the Sungai Utik Ibans its “seal of ecological appropriateness”. The Sungai Utik life-space is part of the bigger climatic zone just north of the Equator that has been predicted to experience higher precipitation over the course of climate change in this century, particularly in comparison with the last three decades of the last century. It means that the community should learn to adapt to a transformed rainy season—the duration of which and the timing of its start and ending are also subject to change—for the crucial nugal (planting) rituals.

Conservation Value of the North American Boreal Forest from an Ethnobotanical Perspective
Amanda Karst, Canadian Boreal Initiative, David Suzuki Foundation, Boreal Songbird Initiative, 1 February 2010

OTTAWA, CANADA: This new report describes the deep botanical and ecological knowledge that Canada’s Aboriginal peoples have gained over thousands of years of using the boreal forest as grocery, pharmacy, school and spiritual centre. It notes that the value of the forest to Aboriginal peoples in terms of subsistence foods alone could reach up to $575.1 million. Many other values have yet to be quantified. According to the report, forest-related traditional knowledge held by Canada’s Aboriginal peoples offers western scientists a vitally important information source. With the boreal forest facing increasing threats from climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and invasive species, such TK is more important than ever. The report also suggests that much more indigenous mapping of the boreal forest has taken place than previously understood. Scientific information has been encoded in indigenous peoples’ languages and is passed on through stories and place names. According to CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf, the report is a major contribution to the celebration of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. Download the report [pdf] … Download a press release on its publication [pdf] …

Joy as Pelargonium patent revoked
African Centre for Biosafety media release, 26 January 2010

MUNICH, GERMANY: The Opposition Division of the European Patent Office has revoked a patent granted to Dr. Willmar Schwabe in its entirety. The patent was opposed by the African Centre for Biosafety acting on behalf of a rural community in Alice, in the Eastern Cape, in collaboration with the Berne Declaration, a Swiss NGO. The patent was in respect of a method for producing extracts of Pelargonium sidoides and Pelargonium reniforme to make Schwabe’s cough and colds syrup, Umckaloabo. Both species of pelargonium are harvested from the wild in the Eastern Cape and exported to Europe for the production of Umckaloabo. The main claim in the patent, in respect of a procedure for the production of an extract from the pelargonium using an aqueous-ethanol solvent, is a procedure used by traditional healers from the Alice community for centuries. The patent was revoked because the Opposition Division found that the patent did not satisfy the requirements of the European Patent Convention dealing with inventiveness. The Division also conducted an in-depth discussion of aspects of the biodiversity convention. Read the press release … Read an EPO press release … Visit the Pelargonium patent challenge webpage including case and background documents … Download an ACB brief “Biopiracy under Fire: The pelargonium Patent Hearing”, providing an overview of key issues for the patent hearing [pdf] …

Staying the Course, Staying Alive – Coastal First Nations fundamental truths: biodiversity, stewardship and sustainability
Frank Brown and Y. Kathy Brown (compilers), Biodiversity BC, December 2009

This report aims to give voice to the ancestral knowledge of British Columbia Coastal First Nations that relates directly to environmental stewardship and preservation and enhancement of biological diversity. It also serves as a formal contribution to the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity. The heart of the book is a set of seven fundamental truths that have guided Coastal First Nations for thousands of years. These truths have been assembled through interviews with and advice from elders from three different Coastal First Nations, regarded by their communities as keepers of the knowledge. Each truth is supported by language, maps, practices and stories from the three Coastal First Nations, and each reflects a different connection to the elements of nature. Collectively the truths convey knowledge, care and sustenance derived from thousands of years of living in direct contact with the land and sea, and are communicated from one generation to another. Download the report [pdf] …

Farming of giant maize made “cultural heritage” in Peru
SciDev.net, 27 January 2010

LIMA, PERU: The Peruvian government has declared the knowledge, traditions and ancient technologies connected with the cultivation of a variety of large-eared white maize, known as Paraqay Sara in Quechua, to be a cultural heritage of the nation. This designation – the first in the country for a crop production method – means such knowledge is considered part of the identity and culture of Peru and will be protected for future generations. But experts disagree over whether the designation influences intellectual property rights on the crop. Read the article …

Protecting Community Rights over Traditional Knowledge: Key findings and recommendations 2005-2009
IIED project folder, 2009

Since January 2005, this action-research project has focused on developing alternative tools to protect traditional knowledge which are rooted in local customary laws rather than based on existing intellectual property standards. The project explored customary laws, values and practices relating to TK and biodiversity with indigenous and local communities in Peru, Panama, India, China and Kenya; and developed local tools for protecting TK and biocultural systems. It sought to inform national and international policy on TK and ABS, and to facilitate local implementation of global policy, eg. the CBD. Download the project folder [pdf] …

International biopiracy protocol: protecting the rights of indigenous peoples
Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Third World Resurgence, Issue no. 231/232 (November/December 2009)

In this article, Jennifer Tauli Corpuz reviews the state of the CBD negotiations on access and benefit-sharing (ABS) and indigenous peoples’ participation. She argues that since indigenous peoples hold, nurture and use a wealth of traditional knowledge related to biodiversity, it is of paramount interest to ensure that their rights are protected. While the draft document that emerged from the eight session of the ABS Working Group in Montreal is promising, the challenge is to ensure that the rights are recognized and protected and are not watered down. Read the article …

Equator Prize 2010
Equator Initiative, January 2010

The Call for Nominations for the Equator Prize 2010 officially opened on 11 January 2010. The Equator Prize is awarded biennially by the UNDP Equator Initiative for outstanding local, indigenous and community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Twenty-five winners will be selected to receive the Equator Prize 2010 and US$5,000 each. Five of these communities will receive special recognition and an additional US$15,000. “Special recognition” will be awarded in each region of prize eligibility (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean), one for indigenous peoples’ use of traditional knowledge, and one for ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change. Equator Prize winners are selected on the principal criteria of impact, partnerships, sustainability, innovation and transferability, leadership and community empowerment, as well as gender equality and social inclusion. Nominations must be received by 28 February 2010. Visit the Equator Initiative website … View the online nomination form …

Call for nominations for members of the Permanent Forum 2011-2013
PFII Secretariat, 19 January 2010

The current membership of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is due to expire at the end of 2010. Nominations are now requested for the three-year period from January 2011 until December 2013. Current members who have served the maximum of two terms (6 years) as Permanent Forums members cannot be nominated for a further term. It is recalled that eight members, nominated by governments, will be elected by ECOSOC and eight members, nominated by indigenous peoples’ organizations will be appointed by the ECOSOC President. The deadline for submissions from indigenous organization is 10 February 2010. Visit the UNPFII Members webpage …

Research fellow in innovation systems and local knowledge
CIRAD, 6 January 2010

CIRAD is seeking a highly qualified and motivated professional in the field of agriculture and rural development to become a full-time research fellow within the context of the EC-funded JOLISAA (Joint Learning on Innovation Systems in African Agriculture) project it coordinates. JOLISAA, an interdisciplinary project implemented by an international consortium including European and African partners, focuses on identifying, assessing and sharing lessons learnt about past and on-going experiences with innovation systems and local knowledge in three African countries. The main role of the research fellow will be to contribute to developing and applying an analytical framework to selected innovation case studies. The successful candidate will be stationed in Montpellier (France), with short-term stays in Wageningen (Netherlands), and will travel periodically to Africa over the duration of his/her tenure. The contract will have duration of 30 months. The deadline for applications is 5 February 2010. Read the position description …

Access and Benefit-sharing Friends of the Co-Chairs Meeting
26 January – 29 January 2010 (Montreal, Canada)

This meeting, organized in the framework of the CBD negotiations for an international regime on access and benefit-sharing (ABS), will address key issues with a view to identifying possible solutions that will facilitate and advance the negotiations. A key issue identified by the Working Group Co-Chairs with regard to TK, is how to ensure that the benefit-haring arising out of the utilization of TK associated with genetic resources is subject to prior informed consent of, and mutually agreed terms with, indigenous and local communities. Visit the meeting website, including selected key issues submitted by the Co-Chairs and list of participants …

Selected indigenous and local community representatives to receive funding for the LAC indigenous and local community third capacity building workshop on the CBD: Cone Sur Region
4 February- 6 February 2010 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

The CBD Secretariat has circulated the list of beneficiaries of financial assistance to participate in the Latin American and Caribbean indigenous and local community third capacity building workshop on the CBD, including issues relevant to Article 8(j) traditional knowledge, and access and benefit-sharing. Download the CBD notification [pdf] …

Latin American and Caribbean indigenous and local community fourth capacity building workshop on the CBD: Mesoamerican Region
4 March – 6 March 2010 (Guatemala, Guatemala)

This fourth capacity building workshop for indigenous and local community representatives on effective participation in the CBD processes, with a focus on Article 8(j) (traditional knowledge) and access and benefit-sharing, aims specifically at building and strengthening capacity for indigenous and local community women. Indigenous and local community organizations are invited to nominate representatives to the CBD Secretariat by 8 February 2010. Participants will be selected on the basis of a fair and equitable sub-regional selection from: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Download the CBD notification [pdf] …

Access and Benefit-sharing: Co-Chairs Informal Inter-regional Consultation
16 March – 18 March 2010 (Cali, Colombia)

Each of the UN regions is invited to identify a total of eight representatives amongst CBD parties. In addition, there will be three representatives each from indigenous and local communities, industry, public research institutions and civil society. Indigenous and local communities are invited to provide to the Secretariat the names of their representatives by 20 February 2010. Based on nominations received, the Executive Secretary in consultation with the Co-Chairs will select the three representatives. It is recalled that the consultation is held back to back with the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group, to be held from 22 March – 28 March 2010, in Cali, Colombia. Download the CBD notification [pdf] …

Submission of views and proposals for the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group
22 March – 28 March 2010 (Cali, Colombia)

In connection with the elaboration and negotiation of the international regime on ABS, and in preparation for the ninth meeting of the ABS Working Group, governments, indigenous and local communities and others are invited to submit views and proposals, including operational text, in respect of preambular text, definitions and text for inclusion in annex II (proposals for operational texts left in abeyance). The deadline for submissions is 15 February 2010. Download the CBD notification [pdf] …

Biodiversity “EcoChic” at UN: “Organic, Fair Trade, and Damn Sexy”
IP Watch, 22 January 2010

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: Attendees of an “EcoChic” event at the Palais de Nations strategized about how the spirit of fashion might be harnessed to support the CBD’s access and benefit-sharing regime and sustainability goals. The event was co-organized by UNCTAD and EcoChic, a Hong Kong-based environmental charity. Many of the designs paraded down the runway make use of traditional knowledge. Paquocha, an Ecuadorian-based company, makes use of long-held techniques for spinning wool of Andean Alpacas, and Royah, an Afghanistan-based company makes coats from locally-made fabrics and incorporates embroidery inspired by traditional Persian work. “Traditional knowledge is part of these products that are being used increasingly in the fashion world,” said Lucas Assuncao of UNCTAD. “There’s a lot of value when you say this is a traditional African texture or a traditional Latin American way of dying” a textile. Using traditional knowledge also carries responsibilities, said Assuncao. You cannot go “to a remote village in Africa… find this great textile… and sell it in Milan for 1000 times more. You make sure that those who make this technique get compensated somehow,” he added, and as such the access and benefit-sharing regime under negotiation at the CBD is very important. Read the article …

Peru: Rural Wisdom against Climate Change
IPS, 21 January 2010

LIMA, PERU: Recording the information and observations from rural communities is necessary for fighting this serious problem that all humanity faces, according to the Citizens Movement Against Climate Change (MOCICC for its Spanish initials), made up of 15 civil society groups. The movement’s platform is laid out in a document it sent to the Environment Ministry. It promotes a “social system of climate and biological records at the local level,” in order to collect information from the affected farmers as they talk about their traditional knowledge of climate variability and the modification of biological indicators or other signs from nature. Read the article …

Digital scribes transfer ancient words into bits and bytes
NunatsiaqOnline, 20 January 2010

NUNAVUT, CANADA: Leah Otak, manager of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangiit and oral history research at the Igloolik Research Centre, and assistant William Qamukaq, work to digitize hundreds of taped interviews conducted with Igloolik elders as far back as 1986. The tapes contain a huge store of vanishing traditional knowledge and language, covering everything from shamanism and kinship to traditional navigation methods and hunting and sewing techniques. Read the article …

Town like Alice takes on German “biopirate”
Mail and Guardian, 22 January 2010

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: A South African community is to challenge German homeopathic giant Schwabe Pharmaceuticals over a traditional medicine the company is seeking to patent. Schwabe wants to patent a method for producing extracts from the roots of Pelargonium sidoides and Pelargonium reniforme to make cough and cold syrups. The company has also hit problems in India over alleged bioprospecting. The community, in Alice in the Eastern Cape, said the extraction method has been used for generations by traditional healers and Schwabe has no right to patent it. The plant is endemic to Southern Africa, especially the Eastern Cape and Lesotho. The Zulu, Basotho, Xhosa and Mfengu peoples have used it for centuries to treat respiratory complaints, and the compound it contains, cumerin, is now a key ingredient in remedies. Read the article …