“Traditional Knowledge Digital Repository -Considerations for Dominica's Kalinago Heritage”

Presentation Topic

1. Some Definitions…

2. TK: Global, Regional &

National Initiatives

3. Benefits: TK & Kalinago

Heritage

4. Best Practices

5. Questions

Presentation Outline

Some Definitions...

• We define the knowledge economy as production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities that

contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance, as well as rapid obsolescence. The key

component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or

natural resources. Walter W. Powell and Kaisa Snellman, Annu. Rev. Sociol. 2004.

• Traditional knowledge (TK) is knowledge, know-how, skills and practices that are developed, sustained and

passed on from generation to generation within a community, often forming part of its cultural or spiritual

identity. Word Intellectual Property Organization, 2017

• “The ‘intangible cultural heritage’ means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well

as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and,

in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage,

transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to

their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity

and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.” UNESCO Convention for the

Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Expression, 2003

• Indigenous Peoples are social groups that have resided in a region for a long period of time and whose social and

cultural identities are different from that of the dominant culture. Word Intellectual Property Organization, 2017

“Traditional knowledge is an important element of the

intellectual and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples. It reflects

their social and historical identity and significantly

contributes to the future well-being and sustainable

development of these peoples.” Ulia Popova-Gosart

TK: Global Initiatives

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

• Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources,Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC)

• protection/preservation of “intangible cultural property” for the benefit of the stateand/or humanity

• “The ‘intangible cultural heritage’ means the practices, representations,expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects,artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities,groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their culturalheritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation togeneration, is constantly recreated by communities and groups inresponse to their environment, their interaction with nature and theirhistory, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thuspromoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.”

UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible CulturalExpression, 2003

• The “intangible cultural heritage”, as defined in paragraph 1 above, ismanifested inter alia in the following domains: (a) oral traditions andexpressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible culturalheritage; (b) performing arts; (c) social practices, rituals and festiveevents; (d) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;(e) traditional craftsmanship.

Caribbean Regional Framework for the

Protection of Traditional Knowledge,

Traditional Cultural Expressions and

Genetic Resourceshttps://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partners

hip/?p=7663

TK: Regional Initiatives

Source: UNGA (A/RES/70/1), 2015

EU-LAC-MUSEUMS and the Virtual

Museum of the Caribbeanhttp://eu-lac.org/virtual-museums/

TK: National Initiatives (noteworthy)

• Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)TKDL is an initiative to provide the information on traditional knowledge existing in thecountry, in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at InternationalPatent Offices (IPOs), so as to prevent the grant of wrong patents.http://www.tkdl.res.in/

• Mātauranga Māorihttp://maaori.com/research/

• Gulisi Garifuna MuseumThe museum offers a full multimedia experience for the visitor. You will learn theorigins of the Garifuna people, their history and customs.http://gulisimuseum.wixsite.com/gulisi

• The First Nations Centre (FNC) at the National Aboriginal Health Organization(NAHO)

The goal of the Centre at NAHO is to advance and promote the health and well-being ofFirst Nations populationshttp://www.naho.ca/firstnations/about-new/

In Tanzania, home of the Serengeti and the Mount Kilimanjaro, nature-based tourism accounts for about

10 percent of GDP. Tourist numbers have doubled between 2000 and 2012 and the sector generates the bulk of export revenues for the country. This is not

unique to Tanzania. In Namibia, 19 percent of all employment (direct and indirect) has been attributed to nature-based tourism, and in the Maldives, tourism

is the major source of government revenue that finances health and education. (World Bank, 2017).

Nature-based tourism is one of the Caribbean region's major economic sectors, with 25 million

visitors contributing US$49 billion towards the area's GDP in 2014, and supporting about 11.3 percent of

jobs.

World Bank, 2017

Some Possible Benefits

• Traditional Knowledge: WIPO IGC Objective 1

Recognise that indigenous peoples and communities consider their cultural heritage to haveintrinsic value, including social, cultural, spiritual, economic, scientific, intellectual, commercialand educational values, and acknowledge that traditional cultures and folklore constituteframeworks of innovation and creativity that benefit indigenous peoples and traditional andother cultural communities, as well as all humanity

1. Loss of income: copying and mass production by outsiders deprive artisans of a sourceof income, and represents a loss of export revenue for the country hosting theindigenous group

2. Disappearance of culture: continued production and development of traditionalhandicrafts and artworks are threatened by the disappearance of traditional skills

3. Misappropriation and misuse: Where sacred images or music are recorded or taken,and disseminated either in original form or in a different context which is felt to bedisparaging, etc.

Some Possible Benefits

• Traditional Knowledge: WIPO IGC Objective 4

1. Prevent the misappropriation and misuse of traditional cultural expressions

2. Provide the legal and practical means, including effective enforcement measures, toprevent the misappropriation of their cultural expressions and derivatives/adaptations

3. To control ways in which they are used beyond the customary and traditional contextpromote the equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use

The National Library of New Zealand’s [2007] Digital Content Strategy argues that digitisation is both a useful tool to remove such constraints

and vital to our understanding of our history:

Digitisation is a powerful means of unlocking content for wider access and use …The scale of

New Zealand content relevant to our national and cultural identity is vast, and yet will be lost

to searchers if it is not digitised [pp. 26-27].

Mātauranga Māori

Best Practices

Documentation Challenges

Concerns that if documentation makes traditional knowledgemore widely available to the general public, especially if it can beaccessed on the Internet, could lead to misappropriation and usein ways that were not anticipated or intended by traditionalknowledge holders.

At the same time, documentation can help protect traditionalknowledge, for example, by providing a confidential or secretrecord of traditional knowledge reserved for the relevantcommunity only.

Some formal documentation and registries of traditionalknowledge support sui generis protection systems, whiletraditional knowledge databases - such as India’s database ontraditional medicine - play a role in defensive protection withinthe existing IP system.

Best Practices

The United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)establishes a right for Indigenous Peoples to be included in impact assessmentprocesses. UNDRIP stipulates that Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) needs to berespected when Indigenous Peoples are implicated by projects on, and near theirlands and traditional territories. The declaration also establishes a right forIndigenous Peoples to consider themselves distinct from the dominant society and berespected as such.

The objective of best practices are to:

• Allow potentially affected indigenous groups to present their opinion and to meaningfully takepart in the development proceedings.

• Use traditional knowledge to complement the knowledge gained from "Western" scientificmethods.

• Use traditional knowledge to preserve indigenous culture in development projects.

Best Practices

• Nature-Based Tourism and Poverty Reduction according to World Bankrecommendations:

• Protect the assets: The natural assets underlying the nature-based tourism sector need to be wellmanaged to ensure that they are maintained. Revenues will be short-lived if the tourism ventureexceeds the carrying capacity of the natural ecosystems resulting in natural resource degradation.

• Article 31 of the United Nations [2007] Declaration on the Rights of IndigenousPeoples states that:

• Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage,traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of theirsciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines,knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports andtraditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control,protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge,and traditional cultural expressions.

Where exactly should be the priority?…

Information governance support and authority to:• Support the TKDR’s Overall Mandate• Support IPR concerns: E.g. classification, provenance,

counterfeit, copyright & royalties.

Digital Information Assets Challenges:• Relationships with community & collaboration• Digital curation and preservation challenges• Digital divide and access

Funding corridors:• UNESCO (World Heritage Fund/IFPC)• WIPO Voluntary Fund• UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples• Global Heritage Fund• Crowd Funding

The indigenous populace are holding rich traditions, rich cultures, and a rich heritage since time of

immemorial. But there are rare efforts of codifying, collection and dissemination of traditional and

indigenous culture and heritage by developing a Digital Library or Repositories of Traditional Knowledge System in this part of the world.

Manoj Kumar Sinha & Arup Barman

(regarding India’s TKDL)

END OF

PRESENTATION

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