Losing out

The countries of the Caribbean region are guilty of not seeing their traditional knowledge (TK) for all it is worth.

Regional Consultant with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Mary-Ann Richards, told those attending a seminar hosted by the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office at the Baobab Towers on Monday that while there is no universally accepted definition for traditional knowledge, its importance should not be overlooked, as it encompasses a broad range of subject matters.

Regional Consultant with WIPO, Mary Ann Richards,
listens as Registrar of the Corporate Affairs and
Intellectual Property Office, Heather Clarke,
speaks to participants on Monday morning.

She noted that in the Caribbean it is usually thought of only in terms of culture, and explained that in the region, rites and rituals, traditional psychiatry, religion, handicraft and language have been identified as aspects of traditional knowledge.

“We talk about TK and the word we put next to it is culture and we see TK as being the arts, but we don’t see that TK has a scientific and technological aspect, and other people see that,” she lamented.

“I have been to countries where, for example, the people have a particular way of building traditional homes. Somebody comes in, employs people who have the knowledge to help build the homes while taking the knowledge – but without telling the people – and at some point in time they tell them, ‘Well thank you, but your employment has ended, we really don’t need you anymore’ ... and we don’t even know in the world in which we live today if that knowledge is not being transferred to maybe building houses in some other tropical country far away from here,” she observed.

Richards’ comments came as she gave the participants an update on the establishment of the Caribbean Framework for the Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions and Genetic Resources.

She explained that the project has been divided into three phases – consultation/fact-finding; research and legislative drafting. Coming out of the research done so far, she said, it was recognised that a lot of work being done on traditional knowledge was not being classified as such.

Silos

“So your marine division might be doing something with fish and other things, but they don’t see that as being TK. Then you know in the Caribbean we operate very largely in silos; we don’t cooperate. So the Trade Ministry goes to the WTO meetings and they discuss issues related to TK ... but they don’t come back and talk to the IP [Intellectual Property] Office, or the Ministry of Agriculture, or the Ministry of Health – even though all those issues are involved,” she noted.

The regional consultant added, “The World Health Organisation has a division that keeps expanding on natural and alternative medicines and yet the doctors would go to Geneva, they would go to WHO meetings and they would never think about coming back and speaking to the IP Office or the Trade Ministry or the Agricultural Ministry because you are producing the plants and other things.

“So they are just operating in silos and sometimes, surprisingly, going to the meetings with different perspectives, almost contradicting each other. So the Health Ministry has a position which is in direct conflict with the Trade Ministry and perhaps doesn’t go along with what the Agricultural Ministry has been pushing for in the Food and Agricultural Organisation.”

Meanwhile, she added that within WIPO there has been an intergovernmental committee on traditional knowledge that has been meeting for over a decade, and she said that there is talk about meeting at the United Nations General Assembly this year to discuss the possibility of a diplomatic conference to craft or agree upon an international instrument to protect traditional knowledge. (JRT)