The abundance of wealth and technology in the North, and biological diversity and
poverty in the South provokes an inquiry into an appropriate modality for the equitable
harnessing and allocation of biodiversity dividends. Over the years, the traditional
knowledge relating to biological diversity has been regarded as part of the "global
intellectual commons", open to exploitation by all, and subject to validation by formal
methods. That knowledge has remained the source of both increasing knowledge and
critical discoveries of the therapeutic values of most components of biological diversity.
There is a consensus between the North and the South that an effective biodiversity
conservation strategy should be one capable of providing incentives to the traditional
custodians of wild habitat. Intellectual property is generally recognised as an appropriate
framework to implement this objective. However, as a perennial subject of North-South
disagreement, there is no consensus on the relevant details or mechanisms for deploying
intellectual property rights to effectuate the objective.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signifies a
global regime embodying the ideals of incentivising the traditional custodians of the wild
habitat as well as equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity. Arguably, it marks an
end to the idea of regarding traditional knowledge as part of the global intellectual
commons. This thesis contends that the CBD regime carries with it the burden of
unresolved North-South perspectives on intellectual property rights. It argues that the
heart of the conflict is the reluctance of the North to accord intellectual property status to
traditional knowledge. This is partly because of the latter's informal nature but most
importantly it derives from an inherent geo-political ideological conflict on the subject of
intellectual property rights.
Presently, the recognition of rights over traditional knowledge is approached on a sui
generis basis. This thesis takes the position that the approach with its several limitations
is not persuasive. It contends that on the merits, traditional knowledge is, and ought to be
recognised as a subject matter of intellectual property rights. The recent elevation of
intellectual property (a traditional subject matter of national law) to the international level
under the WTO/TRIPs Agreement further undermines traditional knowledge. This has
posed a setback not only to the global biodiversity conservation initiative, but also to the
quest for equitable allocation of its dividends. It is my thesis that a national approach
offers a better option for accommodating the intellectual property status of traditional
knowledge and consequentially for advancing the quest for biodiversity conservation as
well as equitable allocation of the dividends arising therefrom.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10735 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Oguamanam, Chidi Vitus |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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