Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Equitable Partnerships in Practice

Description

Biodiversity research and prospecting are long-standing activities taking place in a new legal and ethical environment. Following entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, and other recent policy developments, expectations and obligations for research and prospecting partnerships have changed. However, to date there are few guides to integrating these concepts with practice. This book offers practical guidance on how to arrive at equitable biodiversity research and prospecting partnerships. Drawing on experience and lessons learned from around the world, it provides case studies, analysis and recommendations in a range of areas that together form a new framework for creating equity in these partnerships. They include researcher codes of ethics, institutional policies, community research agreements, the design of more effective commercial partnerships and biodiversity prospecting contracts, the drafting and implementation of national 'access and benefit-sharing' laws, and institutional tools for the distribution of financial benefits. As part of the People and Plants initiative to enhance the role of communities in efforts to conserve biodiversity and use natural resources sustainably, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge will be invaluable to students, researchers and local communities, academic institutions, international agencies, government bodies and companies involved in biodiversity research, prospecting and conservation.

'A thorough manual.' ECOS, A Review of Conservation '[An] outstanding book.' Journal of Ethnobiology 'Hugely valuable as an atlas.' Agriculture, Ecosytems and Environment Journal 'Gives some practical indications on the way to establish partnerships in the field of research and the outlook for biological diversity.' Dimitra Newsletter 'The book [thus] provides a valuable and comprehensive overview of the relationship between the research on biodiversity and the potential legal and economic issues associated with it.' Journal of Ethnopharmacology