Farmers' rights and protection of traditional agricultural knowledge

No hay miniatura disponible

Fecha

Título de la revista

ISSN de la revista

Título del volumen

Editor

International Food Policy Research Institute

Resumen

Descripción

Although achieving in situ conservation is possible without changing farmers’ customary management of crops as common pool resources, an alternative approach is to negotiate a bioprospecting contract with providers of the resource that involves direct payment and royalties. This bioprospecting mechanism implies a change in the customary treatment of crop genetic resources as common pool goods and is in line with national ownership mandated by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This paper questions the value of bioprospecting for protecting traditional agricultural knowledge and argues for a common pool approach. It examines the nature of crop genetic resources and farmers’ knowledge about them, and it analyzes the nature of the ‘common heritage’ regime that was partly dismantled by the Convention on Biological Diversity. The paper reviews the implementation of access and benefit sharing schemes under the CBD and discusses programs to recognize Farmers’ Rights that have arisen since the establishment of the CBD. It concludes with recommendations for meeting the Farmers’ Rights mandate of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

Palabras clave

biological diversity conservation, collective action, bioprospecting, crop management, remuneration, genetic resources, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, agriculture

Citación