Panel on TK Documentation, Valorisation and Compliance

On 27 February 2013, Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) and Rodney Sibuyi (Kukula Traditional Health Practitioners Association) participated in a panel discussion together with Tom Suchanandan (South African Department of Science and Technology - DST) and Lazarus Kairabeb (Nama Traditional Leaders Association, Namibia). The panel was moderated by Barbara Lassen (ABS Initiative) and dialogue and questions followed brief presentations by panelists. The panel was held as part of the seventh Pan-African Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Workshop hosted by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs from 25 February to 1 March 2013 in Phalaborwa, South Africa.

Gino presented on “A Traditional Knowledge Commons.” He began by identifying challenges, how knowledge sharing happened before ‘modernisation’, and suggested potential new models for sharing traditional knowledge. He discussed how knowledge can be seen as a relationship between the ancestors, the group of traditional healers, and individual experiences. He further explained how the use of a biocultural community protocol (BCP) by Kukula helped to create and preserve a pool of knowledge. Mr Sibuyi also emphasised the challenges faced by traditional healers and the positive experience with the BCP.

Mr Suchanandan described the South African National Recordal System, an initiative of the DST which will document, record and store Indigenous Knowledge (IK) for the benefit of the communities of South Africa. It takes into consideration the recording of IK in various multimedia formats and aims to promote and conserve community IK. It proposes both positive and defensive protection of IK. The system also aims to collect grassroots community experiences in local languages. 

Mr Kairabeb shared on his experiences during the recent capacity building workshop on the Nagoya Protocol on ABS, Traditional Knowledge and Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress of Bio-safety in India.

FPP Resource on RSPO Dispute Resolution System

Via www.forestpeoples.org/

The Forest Peoples' Programme has produced a booklet documenting the dispute resolution system of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a not-for-profit association formed in 2004 in response to the urgent and pressing global call for sustainably produced palm oil. While the document identifies numerous shortcomings with the RSPO complaints system, it seeks to ensure that communities are capable of accessing the current system. According to the booklet, "it provides basic information and guidance to civil society organisations and affected local communities on how the RSPO complaint process works and the various steps involved in submitting a complaint."

The booklet can be downloaded here. 

IDLO Publications on Customary Justice

The International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) has released three edited volumes on customary justice. 

"Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment" was edited by Janine Ubink and "explores the relationship between traditional justice and legal empowerment. It discusses key aspects of traditional justice, including the rise of customary law in justice sector reform, the effectiveness of hybrid justice systems, access to justice through community courts, customary law and land tenure, land rights and nature conservation, and the analysis of policy proposals for justice reforms based on traditional justice." It can be downloaded here.

"Working with Customary Justice Systems: Post-conflict and Fragile States" was edited by Erica Harper and  "showcases research conducted under the IDLO Legal Empowerment and Customary Law Research Grants Program. Through this program, seven bursaries were awarded to scholar-practitioners to evaluate the impact of an empowerment-based initiative involving customary justice. The volume aims to assist readers develop a better understanding of the relationship between customary justice and the legal empowerment of users and identify possible entry points for engaging with customary justice systems." It can be downloaded here.

Finally, "Customary Justice: from Programe Design to Impact Evaluation" was also edited by Erica Harper and "was developed to provide guidance to international and national actors on the potential role of customary justice systems in fostering the rule of law and access to justice in post-conflict, post-disaster and development contexts. Specifically, it aims to provoke thought among practitioners about the objectives of customary law interventions, to encourage critical assessments of the criteria on which programming decisions are made, and to provide tools to assist in gauging the extent to which interventions are having a positive impact." It can be downloaded here. 

Seventh Pan-African ABS Workshop

Natural Justice’s Lassana Kone and Gino Cocchiaro are attending the seventh Pan-African Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Workshop hosted by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs from 25 February to 1 March 2013 in Phalaborwa, South Africa. 

The main objectives of the workshop are to collect reflections and comments on the draft AU Guidelines regarding its use and usefulness, consider the “Traditional Knowledge and Plant Genetic Resources Guidelines” developed by SANBio/NEPAD, reflect on the outcomes of the workshop on traditional knowledge in Bangalore, India, and discuss questions regarding the documentation, valorization and compliance of traditional knowledge. 

The workshop was officially opened on 25 February by the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa. She also made a symbolic handover of the second royalty payment to the National Traditional Healer’s Committee. The donors to the ABS Capacity Development Initiative, including the German Embassy, the Danish Ministry of the Environment, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Institut de la Francophonie pour le Developpement Durable and the African Union Commission also addressed the assembly. 

In the opening address, Dr Andreas Drews of the ABS Capacity Development Initiative stressed that the expected outcomes of the workshop are to share experiences, reflect and comment on the draft AU Guidelines, and identify the challenges and recommendations for the future work under the ABS Initiative on the linkages between ABS, traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights for effective national implementation of the Nagoya Protocol. There will also be an opportunity to discuss the draft EU regulation for implementing the Nagoya Protocol.

Presentation at National University of Juridical Sciences

On 24 February, 2013, Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) was invited by the Nature Committee of the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata to speak to students on Biocultural Rights and Access and Benefit Sharing. Thereafter Kabir co-chaired a mock session on negotiating the Nagoya Protocol with law students from law schools across India.

Meeting on the Scope of BCPs in Bhubaneswar

Natural Justice and Vasundhara jointly organised a meeting on 22 February 2013 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha District, to discuss the scope of Biocultural Community Protocols (BCPs) in asserting community rights. The meeting was facilitated by Sankar Pani (Natural Justice) and was attended by representatives from various civil society organisations working in Odisha. 

Mr Y Giri Rao (Vasundhara) welcomed participants and presented the keynote address. Kabir Bavikatte (Natural Justice) detailed the jurisprudence of BCPs and how they have been used by various communities across the globe in articulating and asserting their stewardship rights. Pratap Mohanty (Vasundhara) spoke on how BCPs can be used as tools in claiming habitat rights for particularly vulnerable tribal communities such as the Juang, Paudibhuyan and Chuktia Bhunjia. 

Bhajaman Mahant (Jivan Vikas) presented on the impact of extractive industries on Paudibhuyan Communities and how the community is further alienated by the compensatory afforestation programmes on community land. Sricharan Behera emphasised how BCPs can be used to preserve community knowledge. He also asked how the traditional knowledge related to the production of organic turmeric in Kondhamal can be protected and patented. 

Sambandh, a local organization working with traditional healers, presented on the biocultural practices of traditional healers around the sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants. Priyabrat Satpathy (Action Aid), lawyer and activist Chandranath Dani, Dillip Das (Antoday), Pravat Mishra (RCDC) also participated in the discussions.

Launch of the Philippines ICCA Consortium

In the Philippines, the future of conservation is directly linked to Indigenous peoples. Recent spatial analysis shows that the vast majority of the country's remaining forests and key biodiversity areas are located within Indigenous peoples' ancestral domains. From 19-21 February, Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan ng Pilipinas (KASAPI, the national Indigenous peoples' coalition of the Philippines) and the Philippine Association for Inter-cultural Development (PAFID) co-hosted a workshop to establish the foundation for a national consortium on Indigenous peoples' and community conserved territories and areas (ICCAs). This initiative was in direct response to the Manila Declaration, which emphasises Indigenous peoples’ rights to lands and resources and the strengthening of traditional governance systems and sets out guidelines for Indigenous peoples, government and support organisations. The Declaration was agreed at the first national conference on ICCAs, held in March 2012 at the University of the Philippines.

Workshop participants were comprised of Indigenous leaders from the 7 ethnographic regions of the Philippines. Dr. Grazia Borrini-Feyerbend (Global Coordinator, ICCA Consortium), Samson Pedragosa (PAFID and ICCA Consortium Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator), and Holly Shrumm (Natural Justice and ICCA Consortium International Policy Assistant) served as resource people on successes, challenges, and lessons learned from ICCAs around the world and in international law and policy. Other speakers included Honourable Teddy Baguilat (Chairman, Committee on National Cultural Communities, House of Representatives of the Philippines), Folay Eleazar (Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources), and Toshihiro Tanaka (Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP).

Many thanks to KASAPI, PAFID and PAWB for their generous hospitality and congratulations to the Indigenous leaders on this exciting initiative!