Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

The Policy Context for a Commons-Based Approach to Traditional Knowledge
like a light burning out, so we want to get that knowledge before this generation
goes” (Tingoi, n.d.[b]). The challenge of documenting and preserving TK
is exacerbated by the typically low literacy levels among the communities who
are custodians of the knowledge.
The concept of a “commons” derives from the idea of community ownership
of property (res communes), founded on the principle that certain resources
and things, tangible and intangible, are owned and shared by a community as a
network of people and guided by a predetermined set of rules and regulations
that sets the boundaries and limitations of such use. There are different kinds of
commons, including a material commons, a social commons (Nonini, 2007) and
a knowledge commons. This study was based on the notation of a knowledge
commons, organised around shared intellectual and cultural practices. Unlike
material resources, these intellectual and cultural resources are often non-rival
and non-subtractive because one person learning or using knowledge does not
prevent another person from doing the same (Nonini, 2007). Further, a knowledge
commons can be generative, in the sense that it can “scale up” as it develops
(Nonini, 2007). According to Nonini:
The more users, the better the commons functions, since the marginal cost of
adding users is zero, and new users are not only the recipients of the gift of
non-rival knowledge from others in the commons, but they also reciprocate by
producing new knowledge for them refined on the basis of knowledge previously
received. (2007, p. 71)
According to Abrell (2009), a commons involves the continual “movement and
growth of knowledge that benefits not just the original community that provided
the knowledge but other communities too” (2009, p. 16). Benkler (2006) explains
that a commons refers to a particular institutional form of structuring rights to
the access, use and control of resources:
Commons are another core institutional component of freedom of action in free
societies, but they are structured to enable action that is not based on exclusive
control over resources necessary for action. (Benkler, 2006, p. 24, quoted in Abrell
et. al., 2009, p. 16)
TK accounts for an invaluable part of the lives of ILCs, and this study proceeded
on the presumptions that:
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there is a need to preserve and protect TK;
preservation and protection should not inhibit access;
access should encourage open collaboration and collaborative creativity
for open development; and
access should take into account existing cultural norms and practices of ILCs.
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