Intellectual Property,
Traditional Medicinal Knowledge,Gender and
Sustainable Development
Key Staff Involved
Heather Gibb
Research
Period
May
2006
- April 2007
Output
Background paper
This
is a scoping paper
that includes an
analysis of
production and
exports of medicinal
and aromatic plants
(MAPs) in South
Asia; a gender
analysis of trade in
medicinal and
aromatic plants,
including impacts of
export-oriented
production of
traditional
medicines and herbs
on micro,
small-medium
enterprises (SMEs),
access by local
communities to these
plants to meet local
health needs, female
producers’
livelihoods, etc.;
analysis of key
multilateral and
bilateral trade
agreements on
Intellectual
Property Rights with
respect to
biodiversity
conventions; and,
policy suggestions
for sustainable
development.
These
include:
opportunities to
protect/support
production of
traditional
medicines and
protecting local
producers’ (i.e.,
indigenous women)
access and rights to
use these plants
through trade
mechanisms such as
geographical
indicators and
special tariff
structures for
organic foods/herbs;
scope for regional
collaboration to
reduce costs of
exporting; national
regulations to
protect traditional
knowledge and local
access to
traditional
medicinal and
aromatic plants.
