Valuing local knowledge
Subtitle: indigenous people and intellectual property rights
By: edited by Stephen B. Brush and Doreen Stabinsky.
Contributors: Brush, Stephen B., 1943-; Stabinsky, Doreen.
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 337
Subjects: Human ecology -- Philosophy; Ethnoscience; Indigenous peoples -- Economic conditions; Biological diversity; Conservation of natural resources; Sustainable development; Environmental policy -- Economic aspects
Description: In Valuing Local Knowledge experts from around the world examine an innovative proposal to promote both cultural survival and biological conservation: treating cultural and indigenous knowledge as a form of intellectual property.

Currently the focus of a heated debate among indigenous peoples, human rights advocates, crop breeders, pharmaceutical companies, conservationists, social scientists, and lawyers, the proposal would allow impoverished people in biologically rich areas to realize an economic return from resources under their care. Monetary compensation could both validate their knowledge and provide them with an equitable reward for sharing it, thereby compensating biological stewardship and encouraging conservation.

Valuing Local Knowledge presents case studies of programs that recognize indigenous rights, and it brings direct experience to bear on the international debate over intellectual property, conservation, and indigenous rights.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.