In Touch l Related resources / General resources 201
communities in Peru
in order to protect
their knowledge
against biopiracy and
gain legal rights
relating over their
knowledge. The main
objective of the
register is to ensure
the conservation, protection and
promotion of indigenous peoples’
knowledge systems for sustaining their
livelihoods and traditional resource
rights. The Indigenous Biocultural
Heritage Register, based on traditional
Andean science and technology, also uses
modern tools for collecting, documenting,
storing and administering the contents of
the register.
n Online: http://pubs.iied.org/14531IIED.html
Traditional resource
rights and indigenous
peoples in the Andes
l Alejandro Argumedo
and Michel Pimbert
IIED, 2005
Text and pictures are
combined to highlight
action-research with
indigenous communities on sustaining
local food systems, diverse ecologies,
rights, livelihoods and culture in the
Peruvian Andes. Facilitated by ANDES
(Quechua–Aymara Association for
Nature Conservation and Sustainable
Development) and IIED, this
participatory action-research is actively
developing an integrated model to protect
traditional knowledge systems based on
the conservation and sustainable use of
the ecosystems in which indigenous
peoples’ knowledge and innovations
thrive. The model builds on the Andean
concept of ‘working landscapes’ and
integrates indigenous people’s own
concepts of rights over their knowledge
and resources.
n Online: http://pubs.iied.org/14504IIED.html
Intellectual property
tools for products
based on biocultural
heritage
l Graham Dutfield
Shaping Sustainable
Markets Paper, IIED,
2011
Products developed
by indigenous peoples and traditional
societies, such as food crops and
medicines, can protect biodiversity and
provide an important source of income.
This review explores the intellectual
property (IP) tools of geographical
indications, trademarks and rules of
unfair competition for promoting these
products, and protecting them from
misappropriation, misuses and
imitation, and assesses their potential
to contribute to sustainable
development.
Intellectual property law does not
easily accommodate the collective
interests of groups and communities.
But particular forms of IP – such as
geographical indications (GIs) and
trademarks, which can recognise and
support group rights – may be better
suited to use by groups or associations of
small producers and may help protect
their biocultural heritage.
This legal review draws primarily on
experience in Europe, where GIs and
trademarks have been most widely used
to date, but also includes experience
from developing countries, such as
India’s recent experience with
geographical indications. Some
developing countries have already been
able to benefit from geographical
indications and trademarks. With
careful design and use, these IP tools
could promote products based on
biocultural heritage and economically
benefit indigenous communities and
small producers.
n Online:
http://pubs.iied.org/16506IIED.html