Les savoirs traditionnels médicinaux c’est-à-dire l’aspect de la médecine traditionnelle portant sur des connaissances relatives au médicament traditionnel à base de plantes, qui part de la collecte des végétaux jusqu’au produit final, constituent un élément important dans la réalisation de la couverture des besoins de santé publique. En Afrique, les savoirs traditionnels médicinaux contribuent selon l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) à hauteur de 80% des besoins de santé des populations. Les savoirs traditionnels médicinaux représentent une source d’informations notamment dans la perspective d’une éradication des maladies endémiques du continent africain. L’OMS, et l’Union africaine (UA) voient dans les savoirs traditionnels médicinaux une piste de recherche en vue du développement de nouveaux médicaments à des prix abordables. Leur importance est aussi constatée au niveau de l’industrie du médicament où ils représentent 30% de la recherche dans l’industrie pharmaceutique et l’essentiel des informations dans le secteur des phytomédicaments. Cette appétence pour les savoirs traditionnels médicinaux ainsi que la médiatisation des actes de biopiraterie, ont contribué à renforcer leur valeur (sur les plans scientifique, économique, social et politique) et à justifier la nécessité de les protéger. Cependant, contrairement à la tendance actuelle des pays africains, l’Organisation africaine de la propriété intellectuelle (OAPI), à travers son Accord de Bangui révisé, ne dispose pas de mécanismes de propriété intellectuelle permettant une protection satisfaisante des droits des détenteurs de savoirs traditionnels médicinaux (tradipraticiens, familles, communautés autochtones et locales). Face à ce qui s’apparente à un vide juridique, il convient de s’interroger sur le régime juridique à mettre en place. Autrement dit, quel système sui generis de protection des savoirs traditionnels médicinaux faut-il envisager pour les pays membres de l’OAPI? C’est à cette interrogation que la présente étude se propose d’apporter des éléments de réponses. L’objectif visé sera de démontrer, dans le cadre d’une démarche prospective prenant appui notamment sur les droits de l’homme, le droit international de la propriété intellectuelle, le droit civil, le droit de la biodiversité, et les lois nationales, en particulier, celles de la République du Congo (Brazzaville), qu’il est possible d’établir au sein de l’OAPI un régime juridique cohérent et adapté à même de répondre aux besoins et attentes des différents acteurs intervenant dans l’exploitation de ces créations intellectuelles. / Traditional medical knowledge, which is the aspect of traditional medicine relating to the knowledge of plant-based therapy and which goes from collecting plants to issuing a finished product, is a key component for providing health care coverage for all. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), traditional medical knowledge contributes about 80% of primary health care in Africa. Traditional medical knowledge is perceived as a valuable source of information useful to eradicate African endemic diseases. The WHO and the African Union (AU) consider that traditional medical knowledge is a serious way for researchers to develop new and affordable drugs. Traditional medicinal knowledge is also important for the drug industry where it represents 30% of the researches made in the pharmaceutical sector and constitutes the main source of information in the herbal medicine sector. The drug industry’s increasing interest for traditional medical and the huge media coverage for biopiracy cases strengthened the (scientific, economic, social and politic) value of traditional medicinal knowledge and contribute to justify their protection. However contrary to the current trend in many African countries, it appears that the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the Bangui Agreement, does not provide any suitable legal protective mechanism for the intellectual property rights of the holders of traditional medical knowledge (traditional healers, families, indigenous and local communities).In view of the limits and weaknesses of the intellectual property mechanisms to provide an effective protection to traditional medicinal knowledge’s holders, it is quite legitimate to question the legal mechanism or system to implement. In other words, what type of sui generis protection OAPI members can enact to protect traditional medicinal knowledge? This is the question that the present study intends to answer. The aim is to demonstrate from a prospective approach with regards to human rights, international intellectual property law, civil law, biodiversity law, and national laws, in particular the ones of the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), that it is possible to build a coherent and adapted legal regime.

Internationale Geldgeber haben die Finanzierung für den Schutz tropischer Wälder erhöht, um der globalen Herausforderung von Klima, Biodiversität und Nachhaltigkeit zu begegnen. Allerdings fehlen subnationale Informationen darüber, wo und wie die Gelder verteilt werden, welche Faktoren die Finanzierung beeinflussen und wie sie mit der Dynamik der Wälder und geschützten Gebiete korrelieren. Diese Thesis beabsichtigt, diese Fragen zu beantworten, indem sie sich mit drei Jahrzehnten internationaler Naturschutzfinanzierung in den Hauptabholzungsgebieten Südamerikas auseinandersetzt. Mithilfe gemischter Methoden habe ich die Interessen der Geldgeber thematisch und geografisch kartiert, räumliche Determinanten der Mittelvergabe identifiziert und Schwankungen der Finanzierung über Standorte und Zeit hinweg mit der Dynamik der Waldbedeckung und geschützten Gebiete verknüpft. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die internationale Naturschutzfinanzierung eine Mischung aus global relevanten Interessen und bilateralen Interessen darstellt, ermöglicht durch sozioökonomische und biophysikalische Verbindungen zwischen den spendenden und empfangenden Regionen. Trockenwaldökosysteme mit hoher Abholzungsrate waren besonders unterfinanziert und gefährdeten die Ökosysteme, Arten und die lokale Bevölkerung. Die Verknüpfung von Schutzgebieten und Finanzierung mit dem Konzept der Landnutzungsdynamik enthüllte weitere Nuancen und half, kontextspezifische Empfehlungen zu identifizieren. Diese Studie präsentierte die erste subnationale Analyse der internationalen Naturschutzfinanzierung auf kontinentaler Ebene, zeigte Übereinstimmungen und Diskrepanzen zwischen den zugeteilten Ressourcen und den Naturschutzbedürfnissen und beleuchtete die komplexe und dynamische Landschaft der Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten, mit der andere Akteure umgehen müssen. / International donors have increased funding for tropical forest conservation to address the global challenge of climate, biodiversity, and sustainability. However, subnational information on where and how funds are allocated, factors influencing funding, and its correlation with forest dynamics and protected areas is lacking. This thesis aims to answer these questions by delving into three decades of international conservation funding in South America’s major deforestation areas. Using mixed methods, I mapped donor interests thematically and geographically, identify spatial determinants of funding allocation, and link funding variations across locations and time with forest cover and protected areas dynamics. Results found that international conservation funding carried a mix of globally relevant interests and bilateral interests enabled by socio-economic and biophysical connections between the donating and receiving regions. Dry forest ecoregions with high deforestation rates have been particularly underfunded, threatening the ecosystems, species, and local people depending on them. Dedicated global biodiversity fund, raising attention to drier ecosystems, targeting highly threatened areas, and making funding more accessible to local actors for local conservation needs, may help address the gap. This study presented the first subnational level analysis of international conservation funding at the continental scale, revealed the matches and mismatches between the allocated resources and the conservation needs, and shed light on the complex and dynamic landscape of funding opportunities that other actors need to navigate in.

The relationship between international regimes regulating intellectual property, traditional knowledge and biodiversity has received much attention in recent times. Of the many complex and controversial issues in contemporary international legal discourse on this matter, the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) stands out as a significant challenge. Choices abound in the search for modalities to regulate rights to use and control TK systems and their underlying biodiversity. In recent times, the protection of geographical indications (GIs) has emerged as an option for protecting TK. Despite the considerable enthusiasm over it, there is appreciable research dearth on how far and in what context GIs can be used as a protection model. Indeed, not only is the concept of GIs itself widely misunderstood. As well, analyses as to their applicability for protecting TK often reflect underlying cultural differences in the nature, scope and the jurisprudence regarding GIs across jurisdictions. This thesis examines the relationship between GIs and TK, focusing on the responsiveness of GIs to the needs and desires of indigenous peoples and local communities (ILCs). The thesis posits that the search for a model to protect TK should involve identifying different modalities, including those based on intellectual property, to fit to the nature and uses of TK in particular contexts. The analysis conceptualizes GIs as a form of IP that are structurally and functionally suitable to protect aspects of TK in traditional knowledge-based agricultural products (TKBAPs). Substantively, the thesis draws attention to the conceptual underpinnings of GIs as encompassing cultural and economic objectives in the protection of TK. As such, it is argued that stronger protection of GIs should be achieved by integrating the negotiations and discussion concerning GIs and TK at the international level. Further, the case is made for the determination of immediate challenges and long-term opportunities in choosing a legal means for protecting GIs at the national level. In this connection, the thesis suggests that the potential of GIs to meet national and local imperatives to protect TK be assessed, inter alia, based on their instrumentality for economic, biodiversity, cultural and food security objectives in protecting TKBAPs.