AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

AAAS Project on Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Traditional Knowledge at Risk

The exploitation of traditional knowledge exists on several levels (national, regional, international) and involves intellectual property rights, an increasingly consolidated and powerful "life sciences" industry, and conflicting global agreements. Bioprospecting, or the search for useful compounds in biological materials, has been a growing phenomenon with serious implications for the protection of indigenous knowledge and natural resources. There is currently great interest within communities in the developing world in asserting more control over conservation, equitable benefit-sharing, and capacity-building programs, as well as maintaining habitats, diverse seed stocks, etc. This would require, among other things, defining ownership of the resources, establishing prior knowledge of uses, and determining equity for each stakeholder. These are vital concerns of the indigenous communities that use and manage these resources.

Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights