The Upper Caura, Venezuela - Forest Peoples Programme

Protecting and encouraging customary use of biological resources: The Upper Caura, Venezuela_________________________________________________________________________________________Registration of Intellectual PropertyIn 2001, Kuyujani with the assistance of an Dr. Vladimir Aguilar, an expert in indigenouspeoples intellectual property rights, 39 registered the map and the corresponding data basewith the national copyright institution the Sistema Autónomo de Propiedad Intelectual(SAPI). Thanks to very collaborative approach of SAPI, this registration was undertakenswiftly. The properties were registered as collective intellectual properties therebyestablishing a new precedent for Venezuela and opening the possibility for the country toeffectively protect indigenous peoples cultural heritage in line with Article 8j of theConvention.Application for Legal TitleKuyujani submitted its map and a request for title to the Procuraduría Nacional de laRepublica in 1998, but, despite several meetings then ensuing between the Procuraduríaand Kuyujani, no official response to this demand was made. In 1999, members of Kuyujanialong with many other indigenous representatives participated in the process of revision ofthe Constitution and in the drafting of the Ley de Demarcación del Hábitat y Tierras de losPueblos Indigenas. Kuyujani’s precedent-setting experience in mapping indigenous landuse and demarcating the boundaries of an indigenous territory was an important referencepoint for this process, which, as noted above, resulted in a legal framework which not onlyallows the legal titling of indigenous lands but also accepts processes of self-demarcation,such as that carried out by Kuyujani, as the basis for land claims.The Captain General of the Upper Caura signing the land claim39 Vladimir Anibal Aguilar Castro (ed.), 2002, Los Conocimientos Indígenas Amenazados. Bioguayana,Puerto Ordaz.42