Concept information
Preferred term
PROTECTING TK
Definition
- Indigenous peoples are seeking ways to preserve and protect their traditional knowledge, to incorporate it into both their own decision-making and broader decisions when it is relevant to assessing impacts on indigenous people. At the same time, the ability to exercise some control over indigenous knowledge and maintain its integrity is important. Indigenous people also recognize that their traditional knowledge (TK) may have an economic component and are anxious to share in the benefits that may flow from use of their TK. The fundamental question that this research project seeks to address is how the law responds to these interests of indigenous peoples. What are the alternate legal avenues capable of accepting indigenous claims based on TK and what are the implications both for indigenous people and society more broadly of incorporating TK into the law in these ways? How will recognition and incorporation of TK transform familiar legal landscapes? This study in Northern Canada will provide policy makers and indigenous communities in Canada and other circumpolar nations with insight as to how to protect traditional ecological knowledge and traditional knowledge involving genetic resources. It will explore the legal response to increased participation of indigenous peoples in governance and the incorporation of TK in decision making. Traditional ecological knowledge has the potential to play a major role in developing resource management and environmental policy in Northern Canada. The issue of how to incorporate TK into governance frameworks in this area is particularly pressing given the current resource boom and the ecological pressures resulting from global climate change. The study will utilize first, a review of literature, land claims and self government agreements, agreements in principle and statutes and regulations to assess TK discourse, meanings, and governance and second a case study approach in collaboration with communities in the Nunavut, Northwest Territory and Yukon to answer the following questions. Conceptual and Factual Inquiry: 1) Does TK exist as a single conceptual idea or is it just a way of referring to a set of (not necessarily similar) concerns? 2) If TK is a single idea, to what extent, if at all, does it differ from other forms of knowledge with which we are more familiar? 3) What is the connection between those holding TK and the TK? Is there a common connection or a variety of connections (religious, medicinal, economic, etc.)? Legal Questions: 4) Does the nature of the connection in (3) give rise to rights in or to TK? 5) If so, what are the legal alternatives to providing those rights (property, liability rules, acknowledgement, inalienability, constitutional protection)? 6) Do the connections and the availability of alternative forms of protection fit within justifications given for property rights? If not, which of the alternatives is best justified? Constitutional Questions: One focus of our research is to explore whether TK in itself has any constitutional protection as an aboriginal right under s. 35 of the Canadian Constitution, or alternatively whether particular dimensions of TK may have some constitutional status as an integral aspect of broader rights. Protection of TK within the framework of rights to self-governance would provide indigenous people with the capacity to develop their own legal institutions relating to TK. We plan to explore the extent of rights and their interaction with other regulatory regimes, e.g., environmental and natural resource legislation. We also plan to explore the connection point between TK and indigenous rights under s. 35 and the duty of consultation and accommodation recently articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada. While some of these questions arise in a Canadian Constitutional context, the interplay of rights discourse and TK has a broader significance in national and international law in circumpolar regions. We plan to explore all potential intersection points between TK and international, national, regional and private rules or norms with the aim of developing national and international guidelines for the protection of TK. Summary provided by http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=206 (en)
Broader concept
- P - R (en)
URI
https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/e1367ae7-882b-4c75-a3f1-c90994f917a1
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