China’s declining crop diversity threatens its food sovereignty
10 Apr 2014
Modern breeding techniques, GM crop imports and commercial seeds mean that many of China’s local varieties are under threat
News and blogs
What is “Biocultural Heritage” and “Biocultural Innovation”?
27 Mar 2014
Article in Langscape Magazine explores these concepts in the context of the SIFOR project.
Small-Scale Farmers' Innovation Overlooked In WIPO Negotiations, Panellists Say
07 Feb 2014
A side event hosted by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) this week called on negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization to include innovation by small-scale farmers and asked for complementarity of several international instruments dealing with this issue.
Smallholder innovations support adaptation in coastal Kenya
03 Dec 2013
Local newspaper reports on the innovations identified by SIFOR project communities in Kilifi and Kwale counties.
Biodiversity meeting affirms key role of traditional knowledge in implementing UN biodiversity convention
31 Oct 2013
The meeting of the Working Group on Article 8(j) in Montreal (7-11 October), reaffirmed the need to recognize and integrate traditional knowledge systems of indigenous and local communities into the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Patent-like claims on native potatoes spark protest by Peru's indigenous farmers
26 Sep 2013
Peruvian indigenous farmers have been angered by a government research agency that has claimed it owns intellectual property (IP) rights over more than fifty traditional varieties of potatoes bred in the Peruvian Andes.
The seed treaty must no longer allow the stealing of seeds from peasants
25 Sep 2013
This week, from 24 to 28 September, witnesses the opening in Oman of the Fifth Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, also known as the seed treaty.
Indian scientists recognise the need to conserve landraces and support local knowledge systems
13 Sep 2013
On 24th July 2013, the first SIFOR stakeholder workshop in the Central Himalayas brought together over 100 participants - leading scientists, local farmers, state governments and NGOs.
The Nagoya Protocol and awareness raising measures
The Nagoya Protocol requires that:
Each Party shall take measures to raise awareness of the importance of genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, and related access and benefit-sharing issues” (Article 21).
Awareness raising measures may include:
organising meetings of indigenous and local communities and relevant stakeholders and involving them in implementation of the Protocol;
establishing a help desk, and a national clearing house;
Links and resources
IIED Sustaining Local Food Systems, Biodiversity and Livelihoods programme. This site provides information on biocultural heritage and rights in Peru, India, Indonesia and Iran.
Indigenous Peoples' Climate Change Assessment (IPCCA). Provides information on how the IPCCA's local assessments are using biocultural heritage to shape their concepts and methodologies.
Biocultural Heritage performs vital functions
Resilient farming, adaptation and food security
WIPO – World Intellectual Property Organisation
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) aims to promote intellectual property rights (IPRs) worldwide. In 2000, it established an inter-governmental committee to address IPR issues relating to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, including how to protect traditional knowledge from misappropriation and how to share benefits from commercialisation equitably.
Drivers of change
We are facing a double extinction crisis - biological and cultural - as a result of prevailing development models and globalization.
The FAO estimates we have lost three quarters of all crop genetic resources in the past 100 years. Modern farming, based on just a few species and varieties, has spread across the globe, weakening agriculture’s genetic basis and our capacity to adapt to changing climates. Yet policymakers often see traditional farming systems rich in genetic diversity as a hindrance to economic growth.
An evolving concept
Biocultural heritage, as a concept, has evolved in response to traditional knowledge policies that have tended only to protect the intellectual component of knowledge systems, and not the equally crucial biological, cultural and landscape components. It reflects indigenous communities’ holistic worldview, where everything is inter-dependent and inter-connected.
ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
The International Labour Organisation is a specialised UN agency that aims to improve living and working conditions. ILO Convention 169, concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, entered into force in 1991.
It calls on governments to develop systematic actions to protect the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, including their social, economic and cultural rights, customs, traditions and institutions.
A research framework
The research team for the Protecting Community Rights over Traditional Knowledge: Implications of Customary Laws and Practices project adopted the concept of 'collective biocultural heritage' as the common vision to link the work in Peru, Panama, India, China and Kenya.
Based on this, the project developed a conceptual framework for assessing the conditions and trends affecting traditional knowledge, and the responses needed to address these.