By Dr. P. Pushpangadan Director, National Botanical Research Institute

Indigenous people and IPR Issues – A Case Study Delivered at National Workshop on “Intellectual Property Rights Issues: Education, Awareness and Execution Jiwaji University, Gwalior 1st March 2004 By Dr. P. Pushpangadan Director, National Botanical Research Institute Email: pushpangadan@satyam.net.in Website: http://www.nbri-lko.org Tel./ Fax: 91-522-2205839

Traditional Knowledge System (TKS) OR Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) Community-based functional knowledge developed, preserved and maintained over many generations by the local and indigenous communities through their continuous interaction, observations and experimentation with their surrounding environment.

TKS/ IKS is: • Unique to a given culture or society. • Result of co-evolution and co-existence of indigenous cultures and their traditional resource use.

UN Convention on the Biological Diversity (CBD) • Recognizes sovereign rights of nations over biological diversity. • Binds the parties to respect, preserve and maintain Traditional Knowledge (TK) • Stipulates just and equitable sharing of benefits arising from sustainable use of TK and traditional resources.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) / World Trade Organization (WTO) • Do not recognize any informal knowledge/ innovations of traditional communities for intellectual property rights. • Do not insulate TK from intellectual piracy.

The fundamental conflicts between CBD and TRIPS • CBD recognizes the sovereign rights of nations over their biological resources. • TRIPS tries to introduce private individual rights over the same within the country, the state’s sovereignty take precedence, and the CBD framework may prevail. But between a foreign IPR holder and sovereign state, the state’s jurisdiction is limited and cannot countervail the IPR holder.

TKS & IPR • IPR: The prime driving force behind industrial growth and development in the 19th & 20th centuries. • Do not recognize the informal system of innovation of indigenous people. • Do not provide mechanism for compensation or benefit sharing with indigenous people.

TKS & IPR • IPR laws in general ignore the interest of traditional/local communities- • because their concept of intellectual property and resource rights are different from those of the advanced societies of developing countries and the developed North countries.

Tribal Settings in India • India has over 70 million tribals belonging to over 550 communities inhabiting in 5000 villages located in and around forests region of the country. • About 116 different dialects are spoken by tribal communities in India.

Tribal Settings in India • Population of the individual tribe is as large as about 5 million in Madhya Pradesh and as small as 21 like Onges of Andaman Islands. • The tribals in the country occupy about 18.74% of the total area of the country, mainly in the hilly and forest areas of 19 states and union territories.

INDIAN TRIBALS • Primitive Hunter gather type • Primitive Agriculturists • Plain Agriculturists • Simple Artisans • Pastoral and Cattle Breeders • Industrial –Urban type

Primitive Hunter gather type • Most primitive, • nomadic,

2. Primitive Agriculturists • Socially better organized and have some interaction with outsiders. • Practice a very primitive type of shifting cultivation.

3. Plain Agriculturists • Maintain a large number of land races of rice, sorghum, yams, lentils, pulses, cucurbits, citrus, etc.

4. Simple Artisans • Not well organized. • 5% to 7% of tribal population in India

5. Pastoral and Cattle Breeders • Cattle farming hill tribes living in high altitudes of Himalayas and Western Ghats (Nilgiris) in South India.

6. Industrial – Urban type • Work as bonded laborers. • 5% to 10% of tribal population in India

10000 plant species are used by tribes of India 8000 Medicinal Total 10000 species 325 3500 Edible 425 Pesticides 1000 Others 550 Fibre Gums, Resins & Dyes

900 sp. Ayurveda 700 sp. INDIAN SYSTEMS OF MEDICINE Unani 600 sp. Siddha 250 sp. Amchi 30 sp. Modern 8000 species THE INDIAN FLORA (ca 17500 species)

Benefit Sharing Experiment with an Indigenous community (Kani)

The Kani experiment During the course of an ethnobotanical exploration, Pushpangadan and co-workers (1987) came across an interesting use (anti-fatigue) of a lesser known wild plant while conducting the study on the forest dwelling Kani Tribe of South Western Ghat mountains.

First observation by Dr. P. Pushpangadan In December 1987, a team of scientists led by Dr. Pushpangadan was conducting an ethno-botanical survey and exploration in the Agasthya hills, of the Western Ghats in South India with the help of two young Kani men as guides. During this visit, the author and his colleagues noticed that the Kani men were not taking any food and were eating only some small dry fruits. But they were quite energetic and agile.

First observation by Dr. P. Pushpangadan After a strenuous mountain trek, the author (Pushpangadan) and colleagues got exhausted and were taking rest. Then the Kani men accompanying them offered those dry fruits saying that when consumed they would reduce fatigue and provide energy.

First observation by Dr. P. Pushpangadan The author and his colleague Dr. Rajasekharan accepted the dry fruits and ate them. On consuming 30 to 50 of them, to their surprise the scientists felt a sudden flush of energy, within 10-15 minutes.

First observation by Dr. P. Pushpangadan They tried it again during the next two days and experienced the same magical effect. When asked about the source of the fruits, the Kani men were very reluctant to reveal, saying that it was a sacred information, not to be revealed to outsiders.

Assurance of credit to the informants The scientists assured them that they would not misuse this information, but would carry out scientific investigation and if any positive results were obtained the Kanis would be rewarded appropriately. It was after a great deal of persuasion that they showed the plant from which they collected the fruits.

Assurance of credit to the informants The plant was growing in that very forest where the scientists were trekking. The author assured the Kani men that if the scientific investigation of this plant led to the development of any marketable product, the benefits derived from the same would be shared equally with them. The Kani men, however, did not have any idea of product development and its marketing.

The plant – ‘Arogyapacha’ The Kanis named this plant ‘Arogyapacha’ (meaning the plant that can provide ever green health), which was later identified as Trichopus zeylanicus spp. travancoricus. (Trichopodaceae). Although this species was documented and described earlier, its traditional use and special properties were not known to the scientific world.

Scientific Investigations The author collected adequate samples of this plant for detailed investigations at Regional Research Laboratory, (RRL), Jammu. Soon after reaching back at RRL, Jammu, Pushpangadan conducted the first scientific test to validate the Kani’s claim on the anti-fatigue property of Arogyapacha.

Scientific Investigations He conducted the standard ‘swimming performance’ on Swiss mice under three different conditions. The mice were given swimming test in tubs of water under (1) Control mice fed with normal diet. (2) Experiment 1 (mice fed with synthetic steroidal drug – Amphetamine – to boost stamina), and (3) Experiment 2 (mice ingested with macerated Kernels of the fruits of Arogyapacha).

Reassurance of credit to the informants The ‘Kani’ people were kept informed of the progress of this interesting results and re-assured that if any marketable products were developed out of this plant, benefits derived from the products would be shared equally with them.

Dr. P. Pushpangadan assumed the charge of Director of TBGRI The author very soon realized that the classical pharmacological approach to study the traditional remedies of medicinal plants by isolating single compounds may not be satisfactory and an ethno-pharmacological approach was adopted to evaluate this plant. By this time the author got the offer of the Directorship of Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute (TBGRI), Trivandrum and he accepted the same and joined there in November 1999.

Strengthened the scientific investigations At TBGRI, the author soon established a full-fledged Ethno-pharmacology Division and recruited scientists from disciplines of Botany, Pharmacology, Phytochemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacy and Ayurveda.

Drug “Jeevani” was ready Within a period of two years a scientifically validated, standardized herbal formulation ‘Jeevani’ was formulated with ‘Trichopus zeylanicus’ and threeother medicinal plants as its ingredients. Evaluations related to toxicity efficacy, shelf life and clinical properties were carried out by TBGRI, and the drug was ready by the end of 1994.

Thus IPR can help in many ways: Indian experiment of Benefit Sharing with tribal communities demonstrated the fact that IPR system can help tribal communities in many ways:

Thus IPR can help in many ways: • Traditional Communities (TC) (rather than individuals) can protect their rights by legally registering their innovations/ Traditional Knowledge (TK) on the specific use of local resources or process of making certain products by filing petty patents or idea patents/ utility patents.

Thus IPR can help in many ways: • Appropriate applications of S&T to the traditional knowledge can lead to the development of value added marketable and patentable products, from which the TC can get immense benefits (license fee and royalty). • The knowledge of the tribal communities can thus be converted into economic wealth and bring prosperity to these communities.

Safeguarding IPRs of indigenous/ local communities and Benefit-sharing Survey, inventory & documentation of the indigenous knowledge system and preparation of community registers Preparation of Electronic Database (Access to Patent Office) Access to Database with prior informed consent Negotiation and signing of agreement(s) Development of marketable product/s (with S&T intervention) Commercialization of the products Benefit sharing with the indigenous/ local communities

Medicinal Preparation

By Dr. P. Pushpangadan Director, National Botanical Research Institute