Intellectual Property Rights for Africa? Sharp Negotiations leave Africa vulnerable at CoP15 Climate Talks

Nairobi, Kenya, December 10th, 2009:  Reports on the Science and Development Network SCIDEV.net http://scidevnet.wordpress.com/category/cop-15-un-climate-change-conference-copenhagen/  indicate that African negotiators are once again at a distinct disadvantage at the Climate talks in Copenhagen. From the onset, on Tuesday Dec 9th, reports were leaked by the UK-based Guardian newspaper, that the Danish government had already prepared a draft text for adoption at the end of the CoP meeting.

The spokesperson for the Group of 77 plus China, Sudan’s Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping is reported as saying “The Danish text is the most dangerous document for developing countries.”

 The consultations involved only a few countries and the content blurs the division between developed and developing countries by implying that the latter, too, need emissions targets. This is despite the fact that Africa emits less than 4% of global emissions that contribute to climate change and suffers losses estimated to be much more that the US$10 Billion proposed for adaptation by the international community. References were also made to “multilateral institutions” managing this Climate Fund on behalf of Africa countries.

For the ATPS, the most troubling aspect of the Danish document are the clauses on technology transfer and associated intellectual property rights issues. The ATPS manages an Intellectual property programme in partnership with the Biotechnology Trust Africa (BTA) on “Strengthening National IP Policy and legal framework in Eastern and Southern Africa: Traditional Knowledge (TK) Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and Effective IP Systems”.

A major persuasion against classical Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes is that they are based on Western paradigms of property ownership and are therefore alien and impractical in cultural historical and institutional context of most developing countries – more particularly to the traditional and indigenous communities within the developing countries. Based on the needs assessment by BTA in 2002, most countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are willing to take the road that leads to an effective sui generis system with intent to integrate protection of their traditional knowledge and associated innovations in agriculture environment and health.

Furthermore, to address outstanding equity issues relating to access, utilization and sharing of benefits arising from exploitation of traditional knowledge and local genetic resources.

There are many international agreements such as TRIPS, WIPO, CBD. Inter-governmental committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic resources (IGC), International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources Food and Agriculture (IT-PGRFA) and others. However, there is lack of policy coherence in translating the agreements at National levels. The challenge here is to match the agreements to local national issues such as national food security, poverty alleviation, economic development, biodiversity and health.

This four year programme is being implementated in eight countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Swaziland ,Malawi, Letsotho and Mozambique

At the climate talks, the Executive Director of ATPS, Dr Kevin Urama, will be meeting with colleagues, as Co-Chair of the UNEP Global Climate Change Adaptation Network in Africa and a member of the UNEP International Panel for Sustainable Resources Management

In Copenhagen, African negotiators must keep a sharp focus on securing access to Intellectual Property Rights and ensuring that benefits are shared with African researchers and policy makers to effectively tackle climate change using evidence gathered across Africa.

International agreements must also empower African institutions to chart their own paths for progress on Climate Change and to manage the process which leads to sustainable futures for all.