How do indigenous people protect their ecosystems and traditional knowledge in a world that values genetic resources with a commercial potential over all else? That’s the tricky problem that a group of individuals and networks working through the Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortium (ISTEC) have set out to address.
They are working in a much larger context. The United Nations has designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. A specific part of the plan, Article 8(j), speaks to Access and Benefit Sharing and the creation of an ethics code as it relates to the protection of traditional knowledge and biological resources in local communities and indigenous pueblos and nations.
A coordinating committee will work to accomplish a number of short-term objectives. That includes creating an action plan to address the challenges of designing a collaborative process that will allow the protection, preservation and sharing of traditional knowledge for the development of indigenous and local communities. They also plan to create a forum to encourage indigenous women to exercise their rights related to protecting biodiversity.
In the long term, they plan to create an advisory group to deal with issues related to biodiversity and traditional knowledge, create alliances to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and encourage the social and business entrepreneurship of indigenous.
The group hopes to develop specific training programs to support indigenous leaders, youth and women on international law and customary law as it relates to the protection of biodiversity and traditional knowledge. A key part of the long term objectives will be to encourage development of research projects to study these interactions under complex systems, human rights, and critical race studies.
Coordinating Committee Members
James Maestas, President
South Valley Regional Association of Acequias
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Yolanda Teran, Ph.D. student, UNM
Fundación Chinchasuyo
Red International de Mujeres sobre Biodiversidad (RIMB)
Florina Lopez, Coordinatora General
Red Internacional de Mujeres sobre Biodiversidad (RIMB)
Kuna Ayala, Panama, Panama
Jorge A. Garcia, Director ISTEC-UNM
Iberoamerican Science Technology and Education Consortium (ISTEC)
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Maria Eugenia Choque, Directora
Centro de Estudios Multidiciplinarios Aymara
Red Internacional de Mujeres sobre Biodiversidad (RIMB)
Christine Zuni, Law Professor
Southwestern Indian Law Clinic and the Tribal Law Journal
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Santiago Obispo
Red de Comunidades Amazonicas
Puerto de Ayachucho, Venezuela
Arturo Ornelas, Director
Universidad Fray Lucca Paccioli
Centro de Desarrolo Humano hacia la Comunidad a.k.a. “La Tranca”
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
Media Contact: Karen Wentworth, (505) 277-5627; e-mail: kwent2@unm.edu