Implications of Prior Informed Consent for the conservators of indigenous biological diversity of Northeast India

Abstract

Despite the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requiring the rendering of due credit and benefit to local biodiversity conservators and Traditional Knowledge (TK) holders, very few examples of benefit sharing can be seen on the ground in India. Looking to the importance of the requirement, a project on indigenous natural resources management practices of the tribal peoples of Northeastern India was implemented in the year 2005 in different regions of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. The primary goal of the project was to explore the hidden wisdom of tribal peoples regarding indigenous knowledge and use, and conservation of biodiversity. In the project, workshops of TK holders together with personal interviews were organized to seek their views and perspectives about Prior Informed Consent (PIC) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) relating to their knowledge and practices. Two major types of incentives to the knowledge holders can be identified: materialistic and non-materialistic. A society of poor economic status but high ethical values needs non-materialistic incentives. The majority of these people were of the opinion that their knowledge could be displayed in full text for non-commercial and academic purposes. Research on indigenous resources and cashing the name and fame by formal scientists, needs to be formalized through the community and knowledge holders, with explicit acknowledgement of their wisdom. With the changing and variability in altitude, biodiversity, geography, culture and social norms, the ethics and ways of accessing biodiversity were found to vary from group to group. Knowledge holders living in areas of rich biodiversity at high altitudes required the offer of maximum benefit percentage towards the welfare and conservation of community-based biodiversity. Gender variability also determined percentage of benefit sharing and types of rewards suggested for the TK holders.