Ms. Mita Dutta from CUTS, India, in her presentation Natural Resource and Benefit Sharing: The Indian Scenario argued that in the era of globalization, poor communities in this region are facing various threats in earning their livelihoods. Particularly the mountain farmers are disadvantaged compared to the farmers of the lowland areas. The local people used to live in harmony with the nature and had their own system of protecting natural resources and local knowledge but with the increase of commercial logging, the livelihood of marginalized communities has been seriously threatened. Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement under WTO recognizes monopoly rights over property, be it natural or intellectual. But that results in loss of rights of the community nurturing these resources and preserving it for generations.
India has established the National Biodiversity Authority and legal tools to protect its natural resources. These Acts keep provisions for benefit sharing and prior informed consent, which are key to the effective natural resource management by distributing the rights equally. These Acts, if implemented carefully, can take care of basic issues of supporting poor communities. Certain rights over the natural resources have also been recognized by the Government of India and there is a mechanism for benefit sharing. She concluded with the recommendation that the capacity building of the communities is essential regarding decision making on NRM and ABS.
Roshani Sidgel from SAWTEE, Nepal in her presentation Implications for Farmer's Rights to Livelihoods discussed Nepal's position during the TRIPS review negotiations. Nepal is tremendously rich in biodiversity, which, in turn, is intrinsically associated with the way of life of peoples. It is one of the major sources of food and income for a large section of the society as around 78 percent of the people depend on agriculture. The country is, however, weak in technological capability, which could be applied for turning the traditional knowledge and biodiversity wealth into economic strength and removal of rampant poverty and hunger. The convention on biological diversity (CDB) recognizes the right of state over their biological resource and provides ABS mechanism for the commercial use of the resources. Nepal ratified CBD in 1992 and a law on ABS was promulgated in 2002. The major concern of Nepal is about the patent and plant variety protection provision under article 27.3 b of TRIPS. In Doha declaration it was recognized that the TRIPS should not conflict with the provisions of the CBD. Article 27.3 (b) of the Agreement is being reviewed and the Nepal's position for review is that the TRIPS review should be based on the principles of CBD, and the sovereign right of the state over its biological resources must be respected. The farmers should have the right over seed, traditional knowledge and benefit sharing.
Mehnaz Ajmal from SDPI in her presentation Historic Practices and Customs for ABS and PIC for Plant Genetic Resources in the Mountainous Rural Communities presented in context with ABS, the case study of a medicinal plant kuth which is found in the mountains of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Hazara. Local people use the roots of kuth for various purposes for example when countering asthma, fever, skin diseases pests, livestock diseases etc. Contractors extract kuth excessively even though legally the extraction of the medicinal plants is prohibited. Kuth is a public property and endangered specie but the Government of AJK has violated the laws and allowed the commercial extraction. The unscientific and unsustainable extraction of this plant had serious implications on the livelihoods of the local communities. The contractors paid little to local people and sold kuth at high prices. Mehnaz elaborated that Pakistan is signatory to various international agreements that recognize the right of local people over access and benefit sharing on natural resources and emphasized awareness raising and empowerment of the farmers about ABS.
The chair Muhammad Boota from SCD, Islamabad underlined the need to remove the conflicts between the CBD and TRIPS, and to simplify and institutionalize the ABS mechanism. He argued that every developing country needs genetic resources for its development and imposing a complicated system of ABS will affect their development. He concluded with the remarks that the stakeholders should direct their efforts in evolving proper legislation on proper protection of intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge. The discussant Syed Qasim Ali Shah from ActionAid, Pakistan was of the view that the local communities should be rewarded in the ABS and that the laws and mechanism regarding ABS should be implemented in true spirit.
Reported by Babar Shahbaz
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