Publication: Cultural Rights for Zimbabwe’s Sui Generis Legislation : Emphasizing Symbolic Practice Related to Traditional Medicinal Knowledge
Date
2003-06
ISSN
Published
2003-06
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
Throughout two decades of development
activity, reports on the "crisis" of
desertification, food scarcity, and economic inefficiency
have been challenged by local counter-narratives which show
local people uniquely engaging in their environment in ways
that deny the relevance of economic incentives (Lansing
1995; Leach and Mearns 1996; Appadurai 1990). Recently, the
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) characterized plant
genetic resources as the "heritage of mankind"
(Cullet 2001) in order to globalize conservation of them.
Likewise, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) legislation has
enabled biotechnology companies to enclose aspects of this
heritage within intellectual property rights (IPR) in ways
that primarily fuel international industry. As a result, the
local cultural practices related to biological resources
have been dismissed as inefficient or discussed as barriers
to development. This may begin with the fact that the
relationship between territorial cultural practices,
biological resources, and intellectual properties has not
been made explicit.
Citation
“World Bank. 2003. Cultural Rights for Zimbabwe’s Sui Generis Legislation : Emphasizing Symbolic Practice Related to Traditional Medicinal Knowledge. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Notes; No. 57. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/ef4226bd-3bb9-5271-9424-71ae6b598fb6 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”