BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS - Portal do Professor

PART I / CHAPTER 2
factors in the maintenance of their TK. At the same time,
they also set out reasons why they have to ensure that
their knowledge is only used by certain people and
according to certain values. The traditional healers of
Bushbuckridge present a good example of how a community
holds and shares its knowledge:
Each one of us has received a calling to become a healer
and has been inducted and has studied with other healers.
We gain our knowledge in four main ways: we are taught
by our mentors, during our dreams we receive our ancestors’
knowledge that is passed down through the generations,
we innovate our knowledge, and we receive knowledge from
other traditional health practitioners.
Whilst we share much common knowledge, each one of us
has specialized areas of expertise and corresponding
knowledge. Thus our knowledge is at the same time ancestral,
common and individually held. If we give our knowledge to
others without taking into consideration our ancestors and
fellow healers, we will anger our ancestors and jeopardize
the sanctity of our common knowledge. We can share our
knowledge, but only after appropriate consultations and
on the basis of reciprocity, including benefit-sharing.
We lament the loss of knowledge that has already taken place,
in most cases without any acknowledgement of the source of
the knowledge and in the absence of benefit-sharing. 17
As a result of previous government interventions and the
unregulated taking of knowledge, the communities that
developed protocols felt that any further use of TK or animal
genetic resources should be subject to FPIC and according to
customary laws. The Raika, for example, stated this very clearly:
Our community panchayat should be engaged any time
outside interests take decisions that may affect our livelihoods
or relate to our breeds and associated traditional knowledge.
For example, before any of our access rights to customary
grazing areas are altered, we must be consulted. Also, where
researchers or commercial interests want to access our animal
genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge,
we must be given all relevant information with which to take
a decision and given time to discuss the issues within the
community panchayat as our breed diversity and traditional
knowledge are collectively held and their ownership is not
vested in any single individual. In cases where we decide to
17. Supra note 11.
18. Supra note 4.
BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS AS A
COMMUNITY-BASED RESPONSE TO THE CBD
grant access to our animal genetic resources or associated
traditional knowledge, we have the right to negotiate a benefitsharing
agreement that includes mutually agreed terms. 18
The Gunis from Rajasthan went even further than this,
setting out a series of principles central to the Guni dharma
that governs any use of their TK:
We feel we have a duty to ensure the preservation of our
knowledge by sharing it with others. We do so with other Gunis
and with students on the basis that it must not be misused.
By this we mean that whoever uses our knowledge must
do so according to our Guni dharma. We completely reject
the use of our knowledge in ways that either degrade the
environment or deny the poorest in society from receiving
treatment. Either action is a form of exploitation that goes
against our Guni dharma and has serious implications on
society and the efficacy of the knowledge.
Free, prior and informed consent: We regularly share our
knowledge amongst ourselves according to our customary
norms that encourage the sharing of knowledge, but prohibit
the transfer of knowledge to those who will misuse it by
going against our Guni dharma.
If an outsider wants to access our knowledge, the Guni who is
approached will inform Jagran Jan Vikas Samiti (JJVS),
the Guni organization that has since 1994 assisted Gunis in
Rajasthan and six other states to revitalize our traditions.
We will then hold a meeting of our governing body,
the appropriate Gunis, local conservation farmers, and
other relevant community members. We will require full
information about the intended use of the knowledge.
While we will assess each request on a case by case basis, any
sharing of knowledge will be subject to our Guni dharma as
set out in this protocol. In addition to the two core values of
conserving nature and not denying access to healthcare to
the poorest of our communities, our Guni dharma includes:
• No sharing of our knowledge with anyone who would try
to make excessive profits. The benefits to the individual
should be commensurate with those to the environment
and society;
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