The Justice Institute of Guyana wrapped up an historic workshop on traditional knowledge on Friday which drew indigenous representatives from the Caribbean region to examine how these communities will protect the knowledge and ensure equitable sharing of benefits.
Representatives of local Amerindian communities joined the three-day forum which opened on Wednesday at the Grand Coastal Hotel. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to Guyana was also represented at the workshop, which was organized by the government.
The Justice Institute underscored the importance of the workshop saying in a press release that traditional knowledge is the foundation of much modern knowledge. Indigenous peoples’ innovation and practices are now being given recognition, the institute said, noting that conservationists and scientists are finally learning about the dynamic and respectful way in which indigenous peoples have managed their lands for thousands of years.
But at the same time, the threats to indigenous knowledge, practices and innovations are growing, the institute said.
It noted that there are governments who want to make money from their biodiversity; private sector bodies that fail to recognize communally owned knowledge and seek to obtain indigenous intellectual property for free; and non-governmental organisations which want to help and but end up exposing indigenous communities to exploitation.
The institute referred to the Nagoya Protocol which offers an international framework to enable indigenous peoples to protect their traditional knowledge and ensure equitable sharing of benefits. In addition, it mentioned the Amerindian Act 2006 saying that Amerindian communities have complete control over what knowledge they wish to share and what terms they wish to set.
“For us the challenge is to use the rights guaranteed by our legal system to make wise decisions that will hold for generation after generation,” the institute added.
The directors of the Institute are attorneys-at-law Gino Persaud and Melinda Janki.
