ABS: Big Data, Data Sovereignty and Digitization: A New Indigenous Research Landscape

Oguamanam, Chidi, ed. Genetic Resources, Justice and Reconciliation: Canada and Global Access and Benefit Sharing, ed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)

Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2019-14

16 Pages Posted: 19 May 2019

See all articles by Chidi Oguamanam

Chidi Oguamanam

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section

Date Written: December 1, 2018

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the increasing sophistication of research practices through the applications of digitization and other aspects of information and communication technology (ICT). Multiple factors, including advances in biotechnology and the production, utilization and malleability of valuable research data through the use of digital technology tools have resulted in the transformation of data or genetic information into widely accessible virtual resources that are practically de-linked from their origins. Given the orientation of the Nagoya Protocol towards the physical transfer of genetic resources, the virtualization of Indigenous research data makes the latter part of the big and open data grab threatening the realization of ABS. However, despite the potential to de-link genetic resources (GRs) and associated traditional knowledge (aTK), including other aspects of Indigenous research data from their sources, conceivably, there are significant bases in the texts of CBD and the Nagoya Protocol for the inclusion of digitally sequenced data as part of ABS. Further, the interface of Indigenous peoples and local communities’ (IPLCs) nascent interest in data sovereignty and the big and open data phenomena provide an opportunity to apply critical data analytics to mainstream data equity as an integral aspect of Indigenous-sensitive ABS in an increasingly sophisticated and technology-driven research environment.

Keywords: Medical Law, Ethics and forensic Medicine, Medicine, Intellectual Property, Law, traditional knowledge, self-determination, Indigenous, Nagoya Protocol, reconciliation, genetic resources, information technology

JEL Classification: Y60, K11, K32, J43, Q01, O34, O39

Suggested Citation

Oguamanam, Chidi, ABS: Big Data, Data Sovereignty and Digitization: A New Indigenous Research Landscape (December 1, 2018). Oguamanam, Chidi, ed. Genetic Resources, Justice and Reconciliation: Canada and Global Access and Benefit Sharing, ed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2019-14, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3326282 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3326282

Chidi Oguamanam (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Common Law Section ( email )

57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, K1N 6N5
Canada

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