Media
Why protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge matters
- September 08, 2023
Source: Jakarta Post
Representatives of the 193 member nations of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are gathering at WIPO headquarters to negotiate a proposed new regulation during the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) Special Session this week. Their aim is to formulate a legal text or basic proposal for a diplomatic conference on intellectual property (IP), genetic resources (GR) and traditional knowledge (TK) associated with GR, scheduled for early 2024. If agreed upon, the legal instrument would provide for a more transparent, just and effective IP regime – one that would facilitate benefit-sharing and deter misappropriation of GR and associated TK. Such a system has been sorely missing from the global IP system, where cases of misappropriation of GR are common, usually at the expense of developing countries, including Indonesia.
‘Gujarat Declaration’ underlining outcome of the first WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit 2023 released
- September 04, 2023
Source: Press Information Bureau
World Health Organization (WHO) has released the outcome document of first WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit 2023 in form of “Gujarat Declaration”. The declaration reaffirmed global commitments towards indigenous knowledges, biodiversity and traditional, complementary and integrative medicine. WHO underlined that the application of rigorous scientific methods is needed to better understand, assess and, where appropriate, apply more holistic, context-specific, complex and personalized approaches for health and well-being for all. It reiterates that India as host of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre at Jamnagar, Gujarat has an important role in scaling up WHO’s capacities to support member states and stakeholders in taking forward the summit action agenda and other relevant priorities.
Keeping Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Cultures Alive in Modern-Day Namibia
- September 04, 2023
Source: UNESCO
The world's indigenous people are the guardians of profound cultural traditions that have distinct languages and unique ancestral knowledge systems associated with the land that has been passed down through generations. The Khoisan – often also referred to as the ‘san’, is a collective term used to refer to the various indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes from regions around Southern Africa who depend on the natural environment to fulfill their basic daily needs. While the various Khoisan tribes are assimilated due to the click sound in their lingo and similar physical features, they have distinct groups with unique identities and varying dialects such as the Hai//om, Ju/'Hoansi, ! Xu (or Vasekele), Kwe (or Khwe), //Khau-/eisi, and Naro,! to name a few.
Philippines: Indigenous knowledge Takes on Climate Crisis
- September 03, 2023
Source: United Nation News
In the mountainous province of Bukidnon in the southern Philippines, local indigenous groups are being forced to adapt to the alarming impacts of climate change. With UN support, communities are making significant strides, using centuries-old knowledge to forge sustainable solutions. Climate change is exacting a heavy toll on Filipinos’ lives, properties, and livelihoods. Left unaddressed, it could hamper the country’s ambition of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2040. Many farmers have reported longer and more severe periods of drought and rainfall than previously considered normal. Floods wiped out more than a dozen houses of community members along the Pulangi River in 2012 and 2013.
Year of millets: harnessing indigenous knowledge systems
- September 02, 2023
Source: The Hindustan Times
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, celebrated on 9 August every year, assumed relevance with the International Year of Millets being observed in 2023. The convergence spurred exciting conversations on revisiting the linkage between traditional grains, nutrition, resilience and food sovereignty. The dialogue around millet is connecting the dots from local to global, and India, with its growing leadership narrative from the global south, is shaping policy conversations and knowledge exchanges that link the farm to fork, or should we say seeds to empowerment?
Traditional knowledge systems, interlinked repositories: Nations discuss priority areas
- August 29, 2023
Source: Indian Express
Traditional and indigenous knowledge systems should be taken into account with contemporary science to foster evidence-based innovations that are culturally inspired and locally relevant, recommended an outcome document on 28 August 2023 as the G20-Chief Science Advisers’ Roundtable (CSAR) meetings concluded in Gandhinagar. Principal Scientific Adviser Prof Ajay Kumar Sood said no specific model was discussed but what is important is to bring the traditional knowledge in the framework based on evidence-driven evaluations. Meanwhile, G20 countries also acknowledged the need to enable “immediate and universal access to appropriate publicly funded scholarly scientific knowledge to communities within and beyond G20 members”.
WHO Global Summit Signifies Increased Role of India in the Field of Traditional Medicine
- August 21, 2023
Source: Press Information Bureau
Union Minister of Ayush Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said that the first ever Global Summit on traditional medicine organised by World Health Organisation, and co-hosted by Ministry of Ayush, in Gandhinagar has proved to be historic in many ways. He said “the main outcomes of the global summit will be soon released by World Health Organisation in the form of Gujarat declaration. In the summit, WHO also has shared the initial findings of the global survey on Traditional Medicine that clearly indicates that the reach of Traditional Medicine is on rise across the globe. As per WHO the final survey will be released in November this Year”. The Union Minister Mr Sonowal elaborated on the Ministry of Ayush efforts on expanding the scope and work of Indian Systems of Traditional Medicine and said that five bilateral meet with Nepal, Malaysia, Qatar, Venezuela and Cuba proved very successful. India has invited all the countries involved in bilateral meet to share best practices and benefit from the work going on in India in the field of Traditional Medicine. These bilateral meetings has provided an opportunity for renewing of ties, and also exploring various initiatives for research, practices, education and training in the field of Ayurveda and other Traditional Medicine system.
Union Cabinet approves new Central Sector Scheme ‘PM Vishwakarma’ to support traditional artisans and craftspeople of rural and urban India
- August 16, 2023
Source: Press Information Bureau
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved a new Central Sector Scheme “PM Vishwakarma” with a financial outlay of Rs.13,000 crore for a period of five years (FY 2023-24 to FY 2027-28) on 16 August 2023. The scheme aims to strengthen and nurture the Guru-Shishya parampara or family-based practice of traditional skills by artisans and craftspeople working with their hands and tools. The scheme also aims at improving the quality, as well as the reach of products and services of artisans and craftspeople and to ensure that the Vishwakarmas are integrated with the domestic and global value chains.
First-ever WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
- August 16, 2023
Source: Press Information Bureau
Ministry of Ayush and World Health Organisation are organising the two day Traditional Medicine Global Summit, on 17th and 18th August 2023 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Secretary, Ministry of Ayush Mr Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha brief the media on 16 August 2023 at Gandhinagar, Gujrat ahead of the first global summit on traditional medicine. Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Shri Lav Agarwal also addressed the media. The Union AYUSH Secretary highlighted that the Global Centre on Traditional Medicines in Jamnagar, Gujarat, established by the WHO, is the first such centre in a developing country. He also informed that the WHO will convene the Traditional Medicine Global Summit, co-hosted by the Ministry of AYUSH, on 17th and 18th August, 2023 in Gandhinagar which will explore the role of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine in addressing pressing health challenges and driving progress in global health and sustainable development.
NEHHDC, Tide join hands to promote small weavers and artisans of North East India
- August 16, 2023
Source: The Economic Times
In a bid to digitise the handloom and handicraft sector in North East India, Tide, UK's SME-focused business financial platform has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation (NEHHDC). As part of the year-long partnership, the company will look at bolstering scalability, financial inclusion and market reach for the community of nearly 2.1 million handloom weavers and 3.5 million handicraft artisans across 800 clusters in Northeast India. As a part of the MoU, Tide will help in financial and digital inclusion of weavers and artisans from the region and host mentor panels and masterclasses with in-house experts in leadership, marketing, capital investment, hiring and payroll, taxation, and legal, among others. The company will also help the community network and build capabilities through a series of annual national-level SME events.