The short point is that without using traditional knowledge, forest management faces an uncertain future. The willingness of indigenous peoples to become partners, however, depends upon certain preconditions. Successful alliances require these steps:

1. Indigenous peoples must feel secure in their land tenure and play a central role in forest, land and resource management, in land-use systems and in conflict resolutions. This has been (and remains) a volatile issue because at its core lies the question of self determination. It also strikes at the very legitimacy of settler regimes, and at the control exercised by forest departments and commercial interests. The resistance from all these quarters has been intense and will remain severe. It can hardly be otherwise, since all profits from the exploitation of these resources has been cornered by these groups.

2. Biodiversity prospecting, the latest commercial onslaught on indigenous knowledge, is the exploration, extraction and screening of biological diversity and indigenous knowledge for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources. The commercial application of indigenous knowledge, however, must entail the indigenous peoples' consent and involvement, as well as the equitable sharing of benefits. This obviously calls for a national policy framework and a supportive national legal structure requiring that all bio-prospecting occur through valid and enforceable contracts.

This is easier said than done. The roots of the problem lie in the conventional understanding of intellectual property rights as a mechanism to protect only individual and industrial inventions. That such rights could pertain to collective and generational knowledge and assets was not even considered feasible until indigenous peoples forced the issue. They claim that commercial use of traditional knowledge can occur only at the absolute discretion of its holders, and that the state's main role is to protect and safeguard the rights of those holders.³

After the Earth Summit declarations, the issue of traditional communities' right to manage their natural resources has received greater global attention. The right of ownership, collective or individual, of the members of indigenous populations is accepted in Article 11 of International Labour Organisation Convention 107, and has been reaffirmed in more detail in Articles 14-19 of I.L.O. Convention 169. The Convention on Biological Diversity promises equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of indigenous knowledge.

The Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, drafted by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations to recognise, protect and restore the rights of indigenous peoples, is another landmark. The U.N. has also declared the current decade as the International Decade of Indigenous Peoples.

These measures notwithstanding, there are still no internationally accepted guidelines on the rights of the indigenous peoples. The I.L.O. Convention, while containing important international legal standards for indigenous rights, does not give the desired protection for indigenous intellectual property rights. The United Nations declaration is only a non-binding document, not legally enforceable. The Convention on Biological Diversity merely endorses bilateral contracts without providing effective guidelines and conditions for recognising and rewarding the contributions of indigenous peoples.⁶

The Road Ahead

Quite obviously, a wide gulf separates politically correct oratory from effective legislative muscle. This is a cause for concern but for despair, because grass-roots initiatives continue to make steady inroads into the conservative bastion. Diana Pombo's work in Colombia illustrates how the state can be persuaded to pass legislation to protect indigenous peoples. The next task is equally challenging: to empower the affected population with the knowledge of this and other laws that will further their cause, a process that lies at the heart of Pedro Garcia's initiative in Peru. His endeavour is to impress upon the indigenous peoples the power and importance of their knowledge and the laws in effect so that they can carry out informed negotiations with those attempting to usurp that knowledge.

Inspiring both initiatives is the fundamental belief that indigenous knowledge is vital not only for the social and economic development of indigenous peoples but also for the conservation of biodiversity for all humanity. This objective can be achieved only when indigenous peoples have the absolute discretion to decide if they want to share their knowledge in the first place and – if so – on what terms.