Amazonian chief at UN to combat traditional knowledge piracy

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The leader of the Brazilian Amazon's Huni Kui people remains hopeful that a planned United Nations treaty will advance the fight against biopiracy: the pillaging of traditional knowledge and genetic resources.

However, discussions towards concluding the agreement are progressing "very slowly", Chief Ninawa told AFP on the sidelines of the treaty talks at the headquarters of the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.

Wearing traditional costume, Ninawa officially blessed the WIPO diplomatic conference, with music and song, during a ceremony in front of negotiators.

"Indigenous peoples have always placed their trust in the UN", he said, though he deplored that though there were "declarations and recommendations to states, things do not change" and the plundering of traditional knowledge continues.

But "we want to keep faith in the UN", he said.

The draft treaty being finalised at WIPO the UN's agency for patenting, IP and innovation has been in the works for more than 20 years following a first request launched by Colombia in 1999.

It would require patent applicants to disclose the country of origin of an invention's genetic resources, and whether it is based on traditional knowledge.

"Many plants are used in traditional medicine. Companies are appropriating this knowledge to make perfumes and medicines," Ninawa said.

While natural genetic resources such as those found in medicinal plants, agricultural crops and animal breeds cannot be directly protected as intellectual property, inventions developed using them can be patented.

These resources are increasingly used by companies in everything from cosmetics to seeds, medicines, biotechnology and food supplements, and have enabled considerable progress in health, climate and food security, according to the UN.

But developing countries deplore that patents are granted without Indigenous peoples being informed, for so-called inventions that are not really new because they are based on