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In the politics and economics of information and knowledge, the dis-placement of indigenous and traditional knowledges’ in the public domain and as a public good, is a positioning of paradoxes. While Indigenous and traditional knowledge are used as background intellectual property in applications for patents and plant breeder’s rights, and as knowledge capital for commercialization projects, its existence is rarely made visible. Equally as important is the role that Indigenous and traditional knowledge plays in biodiversity conservation and livelihoods. Despite the recognized value that indigenous and traditional knowledge plays in biodiversity conservation and in commercialisation projects, little effort has gone into discussing ways of economically valuing indigenous and traditional knowledge. Discussions of the value of indigenous and traditional knowledge, and subsequently ways of recognizing indigenous rights to knowledge, are dominated by discourses of legal protection. Through the lenses of international human rights, indigenous rights to knowledge ought to include legal and economic rights. This paper explores some of the ways that Desert Knowledge-Cooperative Research Centre, a virtual research organisation in Australia, has faced the challenges with recognising Indigenous economic and legal rights to knowledge in research.

Stream: Cultural Sustainability

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Margaret Raven is a woman of mixed Yamtji-Nyoongar and non-Indigenous decent. She is aPhD researcher at the Institute of Sustainability and Technology Policy (ISTP), Murdoch University, Western Australia. She is funded by Desert Knowledge-Cooperative Research Centre to undertake a review of its Indigenous Intellectual Property Protocol. In 2003/2004 she was a PhD Fellow with the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). As a PhD Fellow she worked with the Biodiplomacy Initiative as a researcher in area of public domain and its application to traditional knowledge. Margaret has a BSc(Hons) in Geography from the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. As an undergraduate she was awarded an AusAID scholarship to complete the last year of her degree. She has worked for the Western Australian State Government in the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Yamatji Marlpa Barna Baba Maaja Aboriginal Corporation (YMMBMAC) where she worked as a Heritage Officer. As a consultant, she had been contracted to undertake research on Australian state biodiversity conservation policies and legislation. In addition, she is a member of the Songman Circle of Wisdom, and in the past has sat on the Board of Management of the Community Arts Network Western Australia (CANWA). Her areas of interest include indigenous rights, public domain, knowledge management/sharing, environmental ethics and law, cultural and social theory, and community arts. She is also interested in permacultue and has been involved in a number of community organizations teaching people how to recycle their household wastes and grow organic fruit and vegetables.