Showing papers on "Traditional knowledge published in 2005"

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing

Abstract: Drawing on experiences across Fourth World contexts, with an emphasis on the Alaska context, this article seeks to extend our understandings of the learning processes within and at the intersection of diverse worldviews and knowledge systems. We outline the rationale for a comprehensive program of educational initiatives closely articulated with the emergence of a new generation of Indigenous scholars who seek to move the role of Indigenous knowledge and learning from the margins to the center of educational research, thereby confronting some of the most intractable and salient educational issues of our times.

Use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Marine Conservation

Abstract: Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) represents multiple bodies of knowledge accumulated through many generations of close interactions between people and the natural world. TEK and its application via customary ecological management plans can be useful in modern conservation programs. I disaggregate the term TEK into its constituent parts and show several ways in which TEK can strengthen research designs by increasing locality-specific knowledge, including environmental linkages occurring in those localities. Examples of the uses of TEK in conservation include folk taxonomy in systematics in Micronesia, species knowledge for conservation in Kiribati, and fishers' knowledge of ecological interactions for reserve design in Belize. When conservationists recognize the utility of TEK, they can engage in an equitable exchange of knowledge and foster shared responsibility with indigenous people. These types of exchanges can also provide an opportunity for indigenous people to develop a scientific infrastructure.

The use of indigenous knowledge in development: problems and challenges:

Abstract: The use of indigenous knowledge has been seen by many as an alternative way of promoting development in poor rural communities in many parts of the world. By reviewing much of the recent work on indigenous knowledge, the paper suggests that a number of problems and tensions has resulted in indigenous knowledge not being as useful as hoped for or supposed. These include problems emanating from a focus on the (arte)factual; binary tensions between western science and indigenous knowledge systems; the problem of differentiation and power relations; the romanticization of indigenous knowledge; and the all too frequent decontextualization of indigenous knowledge.

Why study the use of animal products in traditional medicines

Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as many as 80% of the world's more than six billion people rely primarily on animal and plant-based medicines. The healing of human ailments by using therapeutics based on medicines obtained from animals or ultimately derived from them is known as zootherapy. The phenomenon of zootherapy is marked both by a broad geographical distribution and very deep historical origins. Despite their importance, studies on the therapeutic use of animals and animal parts have been neglected, when compared to plants. This paper discusses some related aspects of the use of animals or parts thereof as medicines, and their implications for ecology, culture (the traditional knowledge), economy, and public health.

Intellectual Property Rights: A Critical History

Abstract: With intellectual property widely acknowledged today as a key component of economic development, those accused of stealing knowledge and information are also charged with undermining industrial innovation, artistic creativity, and the availability of information itself. How valid are these claims? Has the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) Agreement ushered in a new, better era? Christopher May and Susan Sell trace the history of social conflict and political machinations surrounding the making of property out of knowledge. Ranging from ancient commerce in Greek poems to present-day controversies about on-line piracy and the availability of AIDS drugs in the poorest countries, May and Sell present intellectual property law as a continuing process in which particular conceptions of rights and duties are institutionalized; each settlement prompts new disputes, policy shifts, and new disputes again. They also examine the post-TRIPs era in the context of this process. Their account of two thousand years of technological advances, legal innovation, and philosophical arguments about the character of knowledge production suggests that the future of intellectual property law will be as contested as its past.

The effect of market economies on the well-being of indigenous peoples and on their use of renewable natural resources

Abstract: Assessing the effects of markets on the well-being of indigenous peoples and their conservation of natural resources matters to identify public policies to improve well-being and enhance conservation and to test hypotheses about sociocultural change. We review studies about how market economies affect the subsistence, health, nutritional status, social capital, and traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous peoples and their use of renewable natural resources. Market exposure produces mixed effects on well-being and conservation. Unclear effects arise from the small sample size of observations; reliance on cross-sectional data or short panels; lack of agreement on the measure of key variables, such as integration to the market or folk knowledge, or whether to rely on perceived or objective indicators of health; and endogeneity biases. Rigorous empirical studies linking market economies with the well-being of indigenous peoples or their use of renewable natural resources have yet to take off.

Conservation Alliances with Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon

Abstract: Ongoing alliances between indigenous peoples and conservation organizations in the Brazilian Amazon have helped achieve the official recognition of ∼1 million km 2 of indigenous lands. The future of Amazonian indigenous reserves is of strategic importance for the fate of biodiversity in the region. We exam- ined the legislation governing resource use on indigenous lands and summarize the history of the Kayapo people's consolidation of their >100,000 km 2 territory. Like many Amazonian indigenous peoples, the Kayapo have halted the expansion of the agricultural frontier on their lands but allow selective logging and gold mining. Prospects for long-term conservation and sustainability in these lands depend on indigenous peoples' understandings of their resource base and on available economic alternatives. Although forest conservation is not guaranteed by either tenure security or indigenous knowledge, indigenous societies' relatively egalitarian common-property resource management regimes—along with adequate incentives and long-term partnerships with conservation organizations—can achieve this result. Successful initiatives include Conservation Interna- tional's long-term project with the A'ukre Kayapo village and incipient large-scale territorial monitoring and control in the Kayapo territory, and the Instituto SocioAmbiental (ISA) 15-year partnership with the peoples of the Xingu Indigenous Park, with projects centered on territorial monitoring and control, education, com- munity organization, and economic alternatives. The recent agreement on ecological restoration of the Xingu River headwaters between ranchers and private companies, indigenous peoples, and environmentalists, bro- kere db yISA, marks the emergence of an indigenous and conservation alliance of sufficient cohesiveness and legitimacy to negotiate effectively at a regional scale. Alianzas de Conservacion con Ind´ igenas del Amazonas

The Anti-Politics of TEK: The Institutionalization of Co-Management Discourse and Practice [Traditional Ecological Knowledge]

Abstract: IntroductionOver the past 20 years, co-operative management (comanagement) has become the accepted-even preferred-approach to wildlife management in the Canadian north.1 Throughout this period, provincial and territorial governments have worked with First Nations to establish a wide variety of co-management boards and committees throughout the region. Some of these co-management initiatives have been ad hoc responses to specific management problems; but, increasingly, First Nations and governments are establishing permanent co-management bodies through the land claims process. Given the cross-cultural nature of co-management, it is not surprising that anthropologists have been involved with such efforts from the beginning. Whether based at universities, working as consultants, or employed directly by First Nation governments, anthropologists have played an important role in advocating, designing and evaluating processes of wildlife co-management. Despite this involvement, however (and perhaps partially because of it), anthropologists and other scholars studying co-management have generally failed to engage in much critical analysis. Although they have identified numerous problems with the design and implementation of various co-management schemes, few have critically examined the project of co-management itself and the assumptions underlying it. Instead, most have accepted at face value proponents' claims about the potential beneficial effects of co-management and have worked to improve and facilitate co-management processes.2In the standard view advanced by its proponents, co-management has two important potential benefits. First, proponents believe that co-management will lead to an overall improvement in the practice of wildlife management. For one thing, it allows for the integration of "traditional ecological knowledge" (TEK) held by First Nation hunters with the knowledge produced by wildlife biologists, thus increasing the overall stock of knowledge on which management strategies are based. In addition, decentralized co-management regimes are potentially more responsive to local ecological conditions and more adaptive to highly variable northern ecosystems than are more centralized systems of state management. Secondly, proponents of co-management claim that the use of TEK will empower the aboriginal elders and hunters that hold such knowledge-and, by extension, aboriginal communities more generally (on the potential benefits of co-management, see e.g., Berkes 1994; Freeman 1992; Freeman and Carbyn 1988; Johannes 1989; Johnson 1992).In this article, I argue that we must not simply accept these claims at face value if we hope to understand co-management as a social phenomenon and gauge its real impact on northern native communities. Accordingly, I question-rather than proceed from-the standard assumptions about co-management. Without denying the sincerity of those who hope for improved management and the empowerment of First Nation people through co-management, we must also acknowledge that the complex process of co-management may have a number of other unforeseen-and unintended-consequences (see Ferguson 1994: 20-21). To get at these unintended effects, I focus on the "institutionalization" of co-management discourse and practice. The need to integrate co-management processes with existing institutional structures of state management has led to a tendency to view co-management as a series of technical problems (primarily associated with the question of how to gather "traditional knowledge" and incorporate it into the management process), rather than as a real alternative to the existing structures and practices of state management. This view effectively obscures the political and ethical dimensions of co-management. Indeed, it has engendered and naturalized a discourse that specifically excludes political and ethical considerations, which are treated as externalities, if they are considered at all. …

Community-based child welfare for aboriginal children: supporting resilience through structural change

Abstract: Available data suggest that First Nations children, youth and families in Canada continue to experience multiple and disproportionate human rights violations stemming from colonialism. First Nations child and family service agencies began developing in the 1970s to affirm communitybased systems of care and stem the tide of children being placed in nonAboriginal homes. Although these agencies have demonstrated significant success there are key barriers which limit their efficacy, such as the imposition of Euro-western legislation, inadequate access to financial resources and the continued marginalisation of indigenous knowledge within Euro-western social work. This paper describes the contemporary lived experience of First Nations children, youth and families in Canada. It identifies the conditions that support First Nations child and family service agencies to implement community based responses to child maltreatment that honour the strength, wisdom and resiliency embedded in indigenous ways of knowing and being. Future directions, such as mobilising a movement of reconciliation in child welfare as a means of dislocating Euro-western social work values, policies and practice that aggress indigenous ways of caring for children, will be discussed.

Integrating Sacred Knowledge for Conservation: Cultures and Landscapes in Southwest China

Abstract: China is undergoing economic growth and expansion to a free market economy at a scale and pace that are unprecedented in human history. This is placing great pressure on the country's environment and cultural diversity. This paper examines a number of case histories in China, focusing on the culturally varied and ecologically diverse southwest region of the country. We show how developments in recent Chinese history have devalued and in some cases eliminated indigenous knowledge and practices in the quest to strengthen the centralized state. Despite these changes, more than 30 ethnic minorities live in southwest China. For generations these peoples have maintained landscapes through traditional land use and cultural practices. This indigenous knowledge places a high value on protecting forests, landscapes, and water catchments while preserving biodiversity. These values are maintained through religious beliefs, hunting taboos, and the protection of sacred sites. We advocate a conservation policy for China that includes the indigenous knowledge and values needed to maintain the environment and the traditional cultures themselves. There are seminal signs that the government is beginning to support indigenous cultures in China. The Organic Law of 1998 granted villages the legal right to self-government and gave indigenous communities greater responsibility for land and resource use. Traditional and indigenous cultural products have also developed a market and an economic value within a growing tourism industry. In many cases, however, indigenous people remain isolated from major land-use and conservation decisions that are the result of centrally planned policy. Meanwhile, frequent oscillations in forest policy and land tenure insecurity since the 1950s have led to the erosion of many local institutions and the loss of indigenous knowledge. We suggest that the long-term viability of the environment requires an interactive approach that involves local people as well as governments in the creation of environmental policy. We also suggest that enlightened self-interest can help economic development coexist with the needs of traditional cultures.

Indigenous knowledge as decision support tool in rainwater harvesting

Abstract: Rainfall patterns in semi-arid areas are typically highly variable, both spatially and temporally. As a result, people who rely completely on rainwater for their survival have over the centuries developed indigenous knowledge/techniques to harvest rainwater. These traditional water-harvesting systems have been sustainable for centuries. The reason for this is that they are compatible with local lifestyles, local institutional patterns and local social systems. In order to develop sustainable strategies, it is therefore important to take into account of, and learn from, what local people already know and do, and to build on this. This paper explores how indigenous knowledge is used by farmers in the Makanya catchment, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania to identify potential sites for rainwater harvesting (RWH). The paper draws on participatory research methods including focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field visits and participatory workshops. Initial findings indicate that farmers do hold a substantial amount of knowledge about the resources around them. As there are spatially typical aspects to indigenous knowledge, it could be extrapolated over a wider geographic extent. From the preliminary findings, it is being recommended that geographic information system (GIS) could be an important tool to collect and upscale the utility of diverse indigenous knowledge in the decision-making process.

Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations

Abstract: This essay seeks to clarify the theoretical frameworks that have been developed to understand Indigenous knowledge, to provide some insight into the reasons for the tensions between Indigenous and Eurocentric ways of knowing, and to point out the challenges these conflicts bring to educational systems. It is part of a study that responds to the Government of Canada's working partnership with First Nations to improve the quality of Aboriginal life and education in Canada through research conducted with the Education Renewal Initiative.

Rethinking silence in the classroom: Chinese students’ experiences of sharing indigenous knowledge

Abstract: Recent research has documented silence/reticence among East‐Asian international students, including Chinese students, in Western/English classrooms. Students’ communication competence and cultural differences from the mainstream Euro‐American society have been identified as two primary barriers to participation. Placing emphasis on individual characteristics of Chinese students, however, without considering aspects of the educational context with which those characteristics interact, may over‐simplify and distort the mechanism underlying their silence in the classroom. Based on a qualitative study of Chinese students’ experience of sharing indigenous knowledge in classroom settings of Canadian academic institutions, it is argued that the pursuit of diversity in the classroom may be compromised by classroom interactions, through which, for instance, the dynamics and quality of the knowledge exchange of students from different socio‐cultural backgrounds may be adversely affected. Within this conceptual fram...

Locating the global: culture, language and science education for indigenous students

Abstract: The international literature suggests the use of indigenous knowledge (IK) and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) contexts in science education to provide motivation and self‐esteem for indigenous students is widespread. However, the danger of alienating culture (as knowledge) from the language in which the worldview is embedded seems to have been left out of the philosophical and pedagogical debates surrounding research and comment in the field. This paper argues that one of the main ways in which indigenous knowledge systems will survive and thrive is through the establishment of programmes taught through indigenous languages so that a dialectal relationship between language and knowledge is established that continues to act as the wellspring. The article concludes by reviewing the situation in Aotearoa New Zealand with respect to the indigenous population, Maori, and the recent science education initiatives in te reo Maori (Maori language).

Ethnodevelopment: Social Movements, Creating Experts and Professionalising Indigenous Knowledge in Ecuador

Abstract: Indigenous social movements have become important development actors in recent years. As the targets of “socially inclusive” neoliberal policies and protagonists in global anti-capitalist movements, the position of these social movements in mainstream development is often ambivalent. This ambivalence reflects contradictions between economic neoliberalism and goals of social development as well as different understandings and practices in development-with-identity. We explore the relationship between the institutionalisation of ethnodevelopment and the creation of indigenous experts through indigenous social movements’ engagement in popular training that emphasises indigenous knowledge. Drawing on Michael Watt's notion of governable spaces of indigeneity, we examine how institutionalisation is occurring in a range of ways that establish new alliances and cut across scales. Analysing the politics occurring at the development policy interface, we focus on the processes of representation, negotiation and embodiment involved in indigenous professionalisation, as activism shapes “scaled up” policy making.

Do Formal Intellectual Property Rights Hinder the Free Flow of Scientific Knowledge? An Empirical Test of the Anti-Commons Hypothesis

Abstract: While the potential for intellectual property rights to inhibit the diffusion of scientific knowledge is at the heart of several contemporary policy debates, evidence for the %u201Canti-commons effect%u201D has been anecdotal. A central issue in this debate is how intellectual property rights over a given piece of knowledge affects the propensity of future researchers to build upon that knowledge in their own scientific research activities. This article frames this debate around the concept of dual knowledge, in which a single discovery may contribute to both scientific research and useful commercial applications. A key implication of dual knowledge is that it may be simultaneously instantiated as a scientific research article and as a patent. Such patent-paper pairs are at the heart of our empirical strategy. We exploit the fact that patents are granted with a substantial lag, often many years after the knowledge is initially disclosed through paper publication. The knowledge associated with a patent paper pair therefore diffuses within two distinct intellectual property environments %u2013 one associated with the pre-grant period and another after formal IP rights are granted. Relative to the expected citation pattern for publications with a given quality level, anticommons theory predicts that the citation rate to a scientific publication should fall after formal IP rights associated with that publication are granted. Employing a differences-indifferences estimator for 169 patent-paper pairs (and including a control group of publications from the same journal for which no patent is granted), we find evidence for a modest anti-commons effect (the citation rate after the patent grant declines by between 9 and 17%). This decline becomes more pronounced with the number of years elapsed since the date of the patent grant, and is particularly salient for articles authored by researchers with public sector affiliations.

Factors in Maintaining Indigenous Knowledge Among Ethnic Communities of Manus island

Abstract: Despite the fact that Manus Province is the most geographically isolated province of Papua New Guinea, research shows that the acculturation process, common among minority indigenous groups around the globe, has had detrimental effects on maintaining knowledge and customs. Analysis of ethnobotanical knowledge among the indigenous population of Manus was undertaken in an attempt to compare, contrast, and draw conclusions regarding factors in maintaining indigenous knowledge of the local flora. Four levels of knowledge (plants recognized, identified, identified as useful, and identified as medicinally useful) were used to examine the relationships between knowledge of the local flora and physical, geographical, and social variables of informants. Results showed significant differences in ethnobotanical knowledge based on informant gender, age, cultural subclass, and habitation locality. Low levels of medicinal plant knowledge were found among the Manus due to acculturation, supporting the theory that medicinal plant knowledge is particularly vulnerable to loss.

Field‐based education and indigenous knowledge: Essential components of geoscience education for native American communities

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to propose a framework drawing on theoretical and empirical science education research that explains the common prominent field-based components of the handful of persistent and successful Earth science education programs designed for indigenous communities in North America. These programs are primarily designed for adult learners, either in a postsecondary or in a technical education setting and all include active collaboration between local indigenous communities and geoscientists from nearby universities. Successful Earth science curricula for indigenous learners share in common an explicit emphasis on outdoor education, a place and problem-based structure, and the explicit inclusion of traditional indigenous knowledge in the instruction. Programs sharing this basic design have proven successful and popular for a wide range of indigenous cultures across North America. We present an analysis of common field-based elements to yield insight into indigenous Earth science education. We provide an explanation for the success of this design based in research on field-based learning, Native American learning styles research, and theoretical and empirical research into the nature and structure of indigenous knowledge. We also provide future research directions that can test and further refine our understanding of best practices in indigenous Earth science education. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed, 89:296–313, 2005

Indigenous peoples, resource extraction and sustainable development: An ethical approach

Abstract: Resource extraction companies worldwide are involved with Indigenous peoples. Historically these interactions have been antagonistic, yet there is a growing public expectation for improved ethical performance of resource industries to engage with Indigenous peoples. (Crawley and Sinclair, Journal of Business Ethics 45, 361-373 (2003)) proposed an ethical model for human resource practices with Indigenous peoples in Australian mining companies. This paper expands on this work by re-framing the discussion within the context of sustainable develop- ment, extending it to Canada, and generalizing to other resource industries. We argue that it is unethical to sacrifice the viability of Indigenous cultures for industrial resource extraction; it is ethical to engage with indigenous peoples in a manner consistent with their wishes and needs as they perceive them. We apply these ideas to a case study in the coastal temperate rainforest of Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, Canada. In this case a scientific panel comprised of Nuu-Chah-Nulth elders, forest scientists and manage- ment professionals, achieved full consensus on developing sustainable forest practice standards by drawing equally on Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge and Western science in the context of one of the most heated and pro- tracted environmental conflicts in Canadian history. The resulting sustainable forest practice standards were later adopted by leading forestry firms operating on the coast. Our analysis of this scientific panel's success provides the basis for advancing an ethical approach to sustainable development with Indigenous peoples. This ethical ap- proach is applicable to companies working in natural re- source industries where the territories of Indigenous peoples are involved.

The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Protection: The Case of Software

Abstract: The end of the twentieth century was marked by a sea change in global governance in the realm of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Whereas countries historically retained substantial autonomy with regard to what they defined as intellectual “property” and the rights granted to the owners of intellectual property, the 1990s witnessed the establishment of new global obligations regarding national practices. This paper focuses on the case of software “piracy” to assess the mechanisms by which the new global obligations for the treatment of IPRs are transmitted from the international to the national levels. We first consider a set of national-level factors that many scholars have shown to be important determinants of IPR policy. We then supplement the standard emphasis on domestic factors with an analysis of new transnational factors: countries' multilateral obligations under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and bilateral pressures from the United States to increase the protection of IPRs. Population-averaged panel data models are used to assess the effects of these national and transnational determinants on levels of software piracy in 80 countries from 1994 to 2002. Our results indicate that membership in the WTO and bilateral pressures from the United States—particularly pressures that offer reciprocal concessions—lead to substantial increases in levels of protection in rich and poor countries. There is, in short, a new international political economy of intellectual property.

The Role of Local Ecological Knowledge in Sustainable Urban Planning: Perspectives from Finland

Abstract: This paper is a study of the role of local ecological knowledge (LEK) as lay-expert knowledge in the urban land use planning process in Finland. The research addresses the importance of LEK, and the ways LEK is obtained and used. To obtain data, planning officials, biologists, and representatives of resident and nature associations were interviewed in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The results indicate that LEK exists among nature enthusiast, as well as local residents, and planners can obtain the knowledge in several ways, most notably through networks of knowledgeable key informants and local nature associations. Considering LEK in urban planning is important because it complements scientific ecological data and indicates places important to locals. Some of the challenges of using LEK include collecting it through participatory planning processes, distinguishing it from other information, valuing subjective knowledge, and empowering planning officials to use LEK. To enhance communication between stakeholders, social scientists should be integrated in the planning process. Furthermore, technical improvements, such as registers of key informants and more efficient use of nature associations’ knowledge, would be useful in applying LEK.

Building a Research Agenda for Indigenous Epistemologies and Education

Abstract: One emergent issue in relation to research on Indigenous epistemologies and education concerns the extent to which Indigenous epistemologies lead to new kinds of educational experiences and outcomes and pose new research questions. This commentary responds to the sense of limits and possibilities for Indigenous education that are raised by the research in this theme issue, and suggests that there are indeed new questions to be asked and answered through research.

Diversity and genetic erosion of traditional vegetables in Tanzania from the farmer's point of view

Abstract: Traditional vegetables in Tanzania have been underutilized by farmers and neglected by research and development programmes. In the framework of the project ‘Promotion of Neglected Indigenous Vegetable Crops for Nutritional Health in Eastern and Southern Africa’ led by the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) and partners, focus group meetings were conducted in 10–12 villages in each of four districts of north-east Tanzania, which differed in ethnicity as well as in altitude, climate and soil conditions. Farmers named 10–34 different traditional vegetables per village, summing up to an overall of 102 in all four districts, about half of which were only identified by local names. The number of wild traditional vegetables used was always greater than the number of cultivated traditional types, with ratios of wild to cultivated vegetables ranging from 11:9 in an urban highland district to 59:11 in a rural coastal district. Some wild traditional vegetables were found to be threatened with genetic erosion due to changes in land use and eating habits. The degree of urbanization and the availability of infrastructure contributed more strongly to genetic erosion as compared to climatic conditions. Farmers' training encouraged exotic vegetable cultivation and reduced traditional vegetable diversity. At the same time, indigenous knowledge on how and where to collect, cultivate and prepare traditional vegetables was disappearing.

Are standards and regulations of organic farming moving away from small farmers' knowledge?

Abstract: Organic farming is a promising agricultural method with positive effects on the human ecological and social environment. Governments have taken over a major role in defining organic farming by creating legal standards. Many countries all over the world have established a certification and accreditation system in order to protect the justified expectations of consumers with regard to processing and controlling the product quality of organic goods and to protecting producers from fraudulent trade practices. As they are relevant to international trade, these standards do not only influence the organic farming movement on the national level but also have a converse impact across national borders. Organic farming was established in a bottom-up process as farmers aimed to design sustainable ways of using natural resources. Farmers' traditional knowledge and their awareness of ecological, as well as, of social affairs was the main base for the development of organic farming. Since public interest in org...

Women and natural resource management: Illustrations from India and Nepal

Abstract: This article attempts to delineate women's roles in natural resource management by highlighting their roles in management of water, agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishery. The article is based on the findings of case studies in rural areas of India and Nepal done -during 2003 and 2004 by the author as well as by other researchers. Taking women as primary respondents, empirical work used participatory techniques, such as in-depth surveys, focus group discussions and participant observation. Findings suggest that women clearly outdo men in terms of their involvement in use and management of all the studied sectors, i.e., water, agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishery. Yet, they face categorical exclusion and denial of equal sharing of benefits from natural resources. In order to ensure sustainable use of these resources, the article recommends that policy makers, planners and development workers must have a better understanding of the relative and often shifting roles of men and women in natural resource management, including division of labour, access to resources, decision-making and traditional knowledge and practices. The article concludes with sector-specific recommendations.

International licensing and the strengthening of intellectual property rights in developing countries during the 1990s

Abstract: Global intellectual property reform has been underway since the early 1990s (Box 1). With respect to international trade, a central pillar of the reform is the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) that came into effect on 1 January 1995. Clearly, a strengthening of intellectual property laws worldwide can benefit those in industrialised nations who own most of the intellectual properties (e.g. copyrights on books, music, and software, patent rights on inventions, and trademark rights on business symbols and names).....

Global Biopiracy: Patents, Plants, and Indigenous Knowledge

Abstract: Foreword / Teresa Scassa Preface / xi Acknowledgments / xiii Acronyms / xv 1 Introduction / 1 2 Patents, Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge, and Biopiracy / 9 3 Implications of Biopiracy for Biological and Cultural Diversity / 50 4 The Appropriative Aspects of Biopiracy / 87 5 Patent Regimes and Biopiracy / 119 6 Conclusion / 179 Notes / 201 Selected Bibliography / 280 Index / 305