KUALA LUMPUR -- Threats to our way of life come in many shapes and forms -- degradation of the Earth's ecosystems, disease, social unrest. Indigenous peoples must face all of these, and now confront additional, equally serious, pressure on their livelihoods.
As holders and purveyors of "traditional knowledge," indigenous groups are failing to receive adequate protection from exploitation and loss through international copyright and patent rules under the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Intellectual Property Agreement, or TRIPs. Many of these issues were under discussion this week at COP7 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur.
Indigenous peoples from the Ainu of Japan to the Inuit of Canada share a profound knowledge of their environment. This knowledge is passed from generation to generation, mostly orally through stories and cultural practices. The knowledge may be a simple life lesson, a tale with a moral ending or practical knowledge on cultivating crops, making a fishnet or harvesting seeds.