Plants for People: Intellectual property rights for traditional owners about plants: Background paper with specific reference to Australian Aboriginal peoples and plants, presented to DKCRC May 2007

Abstract:

There are numerous examples worldwide of instances where bioprospecting for plant products of commercial potential through the support of local knowledge has led to significant financial gains for the bioprospecting company but little or no economic return for the knowledge holders (GRAIN & Kalpavriksh 2002; Bodeker 2003). Disquiet, concern and, more often, outrage at the inequity of these events led scientists working in the field of ethnobotany to join with progressive and determined Indigenous groups in the development of international protocols aimed at more equitably distributing economic returns accruing from commercial applications of traditional plant knowledge.