Economic Relationships in Transition

Abstract

The project involves a critical analytical investigation of the domestic and international legal regimes available for recognizing, valuing, preserving, and compensating for the genetic resources held by indigenous peoples in the form of biological and human genetic diversity and indigenous knowledge, an exploration of available forms of domestic law reform given conflicting international norms, and the availability of alternative normative resources for governing emerging transnational relationships. It seeks to map the networks of activity and communication that constitute a new social movement of indigenous peoples and NGOs who are developing new norms and protocols for access and consent, as well as novel forms of compensation with respect to genetic resources. It is part of a larger project that will develop an interdisciplinary collaborative network of researchers in law, anthropology, and the life and environmental sciences to establish a database for comparative studies that will inform future deliberations and relationships in the fields of biotechnology, biological diversity, and genetic research.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Genetic resources, Indigenous rights, International law