Amazonian chief at the UN to fight piracy of traditional knowledge May 15, 2024

Chief Ninawa is worried about biopiracy (JOSEPH EID)

By AFP Agence France Presse

Amazonian chief at the UN to fight piracy of traditional knowledge

The leader of the Huni Kui people of the Brazilian Amazon remains hopeful that a treaty planned by the United Nations will make progress in the fight against biopiracy: the plundering of traditional knowledge and genetic resources.

However, discussions to agree are progressing “very slowly”, the Ninawa chief told AFP on the sidelines of the treaty negotiations at the headquarters of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.

Wearing traditional dress, Ninawa officially blessed the WIPO diplomatic conference with music and song during a ceremony in front of the negotiators.

“Indigenous peoples have always placed their trust in the UN,” he said, although he lamented the fact that although there have been “declarations and recommendations to states, things don't change” - and the plundering of traditional knowledge continues.

But “we want to keep faith with the UN”, he said.

The draft treaty being finalized at WIPO - the UN agency for patents, intellectual property, and innovation - has been in the works for more than 20 years, following a first request launched by Colombia in 1999.

It would require patent applicants to disclose the country of origin of an invention's genetic resources and whether it is based on traditional knowledge.

- Pirated traditional medicine -

“Many plants are used in traditional medicine. Companies are appropriating this knowledge to make perfumes and medicines,” said Ninawa.

Although natural genetic resources, such as those found in medicinal plants, crops, and animal breeds, cannot be directly protected as intellectual property, inventions developed using them can be patented.

These resources are increasingly used by companies in everything from cosmetics to seeds, medicines, biotechnology, and food supplements, and have enabled considerable progress in health, climate, and food security, according to the UN.

But developing countries regret that patents are granted without indigenous peoples being informed, about so-called inventions that are not new because they are based on traditional knowledge.

“As connoisseurs and protectors of this knowledge, we have a lot to contribute to humanity,” said Ninawa.

However, “in South America and Brazil, many companies have appropriated the traditional and genetic knowledge of indigenous peoples” without their authorization.

The Amazonian leader said that, to his regret, the Brazilian authorities have not consulted them, even though President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “is very keen to change things”.

“But it doesn't just depend on President Lula,” he said.

- Ayahuasca drink -

Ninawa cited ayahuasca as an example.

A psychoactive drink prepared from vines by the peoples of the western Amazon basin, ayahuasca is seen, depending on the version, as a miracle cure, a tool for inner exploration and personal development, a recreational hallucinogen, or a dangerous psychotropic drug.

In some countries, psychedelic tourism has developed around ayahuasca, which can also be bought online, in capsules, or as an infusion.

“There are many laboratories that want to do research (with ayahuasca) to treat people with psychological or mental problems,” said Ninawa.

The community he leads, made up of 17,000 people in Brazil and 4,000 in Peru, feels threatened by biopiracy.

“The way they enter our community, in search of traditional and ancestral knowledge, represents a very real and very strong threat,” he said.

The battle against biopiracy could reach a turning point if the more than 190 member states of WIPO manage to reach an agreement. The negotiations in Geneva are scheduled to last until May 24.

“We came here to bring a statement from the indigenous peoples of Brazil, to highlight the problems that the appropriation of our knowledge causes for our communities,” explained the Huni Kui leader.

This knowledge “is part of our spirituality, it is not a resource for the economy”.

“Governments and leaders need to know: our relationship with Mother Nature is not economic, but a way of being in a relationship with life.”

By Agnès PEDRERO

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