Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Reasearch position paper 7cyberspace. The Internet could become a means of educating others about suchindigenous systems of intellectual property and online license agreements basedupon indigenous cultural principles could also be devised. Further research on theprospects for recognising and enforcing indigenous customary law in cyberspaceis needed.It is recommended that Council Parties undertake further research to consider:– supporting the development of fonts for indigenous languages to maximise useof new information technologies for preserving cultural diversity and themaintenance, use, and compensation for ITKIP upon which global biologicaldiversity depends;– the feasibility of devising online licensing agreements based on indigenouscultural principles;– the possibility and feasibility of introducing new exemptions into domesticcopyright, trademark, and patent regimes to further indigenous use of digitaltechnologies for cultural preservation and revitalisation purposes;– new and effective means for involving more indigenous and rural communitywomen in the use of digital technology for biodiversity and cultural preservationpurposes;– prospects and opportunities for recognising and enforcing indigenous customarylaw in cyberspace.Digital technology, biodiversity preservation, and the protectionof indigenous knowledgeDigital technology is widely used for biodiversity preservation purposes and manystate and NGO initiatives are underway to develop electronic storage and communicationsmedia to meet CBD objectives. National contacts exist in each of theCouncil Parties for the “clearing house” mechanism being established under theCBD to promote and facilitate technical and scientific co-operation (Article 18.3)with respect to the sustainable use of biodiversity (Article 10), the sharing of benefitsderived from the use of biodiversity (Article 19.2), and the involvement andequitable sharing of benefits with indigenous and local communities (Article 8.j.).Many of these clearing houses are in their infancy and currently operate more ascatalogues or inventories. Most have been launched on the Internet. 36Work is underway to create a single international facility for information on biodiversity– the Global Biodiversity Information Facility or GBIF – that will linkthe clearing house mechanisms with other “databases on the distribution of plants,animals, and microbes around the globe, detailed genome maps, compilations ofthe physiological functions of organisms, and information about the behaviour andfunction of species within ecosystems” (Environment News Service, 1999). Suchinternational maps, however, are not necessarily conducive to the goal of preservingcultural diversity to the extent they presuppose a singular knowledge of theproperties of biodiversity that might be universally shared. For instance, a key fea-181