CIEL's Project on Intellectual Property (IP) and Sustainable Development

CIEL works to assist and support the efforts of indigenous and other local communities, developing countries, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to include sustainable development and poverty-alleviating concerns in on-going processes of intellectual property standard setting and related discussions, including in intergovernmental organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and in regional and bilateral trade negotiations.

BACKGROUND:

Intellectual property rules fundamentally affect sustainable development. Intellectual property rights, as temporary privileges over the products of intellectual activity, determine who controls information and technology. The level and scope of intellectual property protection thus influence the flow of technology between industrialized and developing countries and could affect, for instance, the implementation of environmentally sound technology transfer provisions of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). The standards of intellectual property protection also impact the control communities have over their traditional knowledge, the access of poor people to medicines and education, and other such issues fundamental to sustainable development.

BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY:

CIEL aims to ensure: the prevention of misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge; international recognition and protection of traditional knowledge and folklore; and the international establishment of disclosure of origin requirements for traditional knowledge and genetic resources linked to a regime for full and informed prior consent and access and benefit-sharing.

KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

CIEL aims to ensure Access to Knowledge for marginalized and poor communities and to ensure that transfer of technology to developing countries takes place, especially for environment and climate-change related technologies. On Access to Knowledge, CIEL advocates in multilateral and regional fora for alternative knowledge systems that do not enclose information and knowledge in private hands and encourage the broadest dissemination of information that empowers citizen participation and sustainable development. On technology transfer, CIEL advocates for research and application of methodologies for operationalizing long-ignored technology transfer provisions at the WTO and in Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).

CLIMATE CHANGE, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

CIEL's work on climate change, technology transfer and intellectual property is focused on ensuring the mitigation of carbon emissions and enabling vulnerable countries and communities to have access to technologies to help them adapt to the effects of global climate change. CIEL works to:

• Operationalize technology transfer obligations and ensure that multilateral IP rules enable transfer of technology;
• Identify priority technologies for transfer and the use of flexibilities in IP rules to ensure access for vulnerable countries and communities; and
• Assist in the development and operationalization of effective financing mechanisms for technology transfer such as the Global Environment Facility.

CROSS-FORA APPROACH

Developments in IP are occurring in many fora. This multitude of fora has created a dangerous and virtually impossible situation for indigenous and other local communities, civil society and most developing countries for several reasons. The multitude of fora is virtually impossible for indigenous and other local communities, civil society, and most developing countries to manage. The issues in these discussions are interrelated, but fragmented, so what happens in one forum affects possibilities for progress in another. Discussions occur simultaneously which means that communities, civil society and developing countries cannot cover them all.

CIEL participates meaningfully and effectively in all of these deliberations to enable and encourage cross-fora information sharing, coherence and action by its partners, and to strengthen its capacity-building activities in the Global South. Some of the many fora in which we participate include:

• World Trade Organization (WTO)
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Culture (UNPFII)
• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
  
  

JOINT PROJECT WITH THE SOUTH CENTRE

CIEL's joint project on Intellectual Property with the South Centre enables us to work directly with developing country delegates. The relationships developed individually and through the South Centre have allowed CIEL to advise groups of developing countries regarding a host of issues relating to non-agricultural market access, environmental issues (including environmental goods and services) and intellectual property. The South Centre and CIEL work together to enhance the effective participation of developing countries and civil society in WIPO processes. In particular CIEL works with the South Centre to produce the South Centre/CIEL IP Quarterly, one of the most widely used information sources on development on IP in multilateral fora.


ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

• South Centre and CIEL IP Quarterly Update - Intellectual Property and Development: Overview of Developments in Multilateral, Plurilateral, and Bilateral Fora

• Trade & Sustainable Development Publications

• Trade & Sustainable Develepment Annnouncements
  

For more information, please contact Dalindyebo Shabalala at (41) 22-321-47-74, dshabalala@ciel.org.

This page last modified on 1 December 2007.