Traditional knowledge to be protected

During the session on Culture and the Creative Industries, at the National Economic Summit at the National Auditorium last Tuesday, Secretary for Cultural Development Sonny Williams announced the formulation of a Traditional Knowledge Policy.
Entitled the “Cook Islands National Policy on Traditional Knowledge” the draft was prepared by Repeta Puna as part of a consultancy with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, supported by the South Pacific Community and the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva. The outer islands (the southern group) were consulted last year including Te Koutu Nui and House of Ariki and some of the vakas.
Legislation is expected to be drafted next month.
The Cook Islands was one of six countries who put up their hands up to do this in the first round back in 2006 and PIFs rounded up those countries. At the beginning of 2010, the process of policy development was started by the six countries. Those countries are Cook Islands, Fiji, Palau, Kiribas, Solomons, Papua New Guinea.
It is a comprehensive draft of 19 pages covering issues such as protecting and preserving traditional knowledge and promoting the traditional knowledge, skills and works of the Cook Islands.
A major concern is promoting strategies which stimulate economic growth and benefit through the nurturing of small to medium enterprises which use traditional knowledge as their product base.
In a foreword by Minister for Culture Hon Teariki Heather, he states that the Policy, quote:
“…articulates Government’s future direction and position on the promotion, preservation and protection of Traditional Knowledge. This is a sacred process which must be undertaken with the utmost care and humility. This policy will be the foundation of any future work for Traditional Knowledge in the Cook Islands; be it policy, legislation, procedural and operational. The articulation of this direction is way overdue as some of the Cook Islands knowledge and practices in the past were used without proper consent and benefit sharing processes. This policy is the first step to putting past selfish practices in the past and ensures the process of benefit sharing is made abundantly clear so the Owners benefit from the use, practice and care of their knowledge. “
According to the policy document, the purpose of the policy is to quote;
“ensure mechanisms are in place to protect, preserve and promote the Cook Islands Traditional Knowledge nationally, in the Pacific region, and internationally. This policy recognizes that traditional knowledge belongs to the indigenous communities of the Cook Islands whose ties to the 15 islands can be traced back traditionally and over many generations. This policy guides further work in relation to Traditional Knowledge by signaling key principles and objectives. This policy is a first step towards Government acknowledging its social responsibility to work in partnership with its indigenous communities to protect, preserve and promote this knowledge for the sake of current and future generations.”
By way of background information, the document refers to recent attempts to protect traditional knowledge from exploitation. Quote:
“Today, traditional knowledge is held by indigenous communities and used by many as part of daily living practices. Some of this knowledge has been compromised by modern inventions, skills and creations recreating the knowledge and experience of the users of this knowledge. Nonetheless traditional knowledge is now recognized as an important and valuable resource for indigenous people internationally and efforts are being made to protect, preserve and promote it. Globally, there are initiatives to protect this knowledge through the use of United Nation’s legal instruments like conventions, declarations and agreements. Examples of these are the United Nations Convention on the protection of Intangible Knowledge and Cultural Heritage, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Convention on Biological Diversity, and Convention on the Promotion of the Expressions of Cultural Diversity.
The Pacific region developed a framework for the protection of traditional knowledge and cultural expressions which was endorsed by the Pacific Ministers of Culture in 2002. For the Cook Islands, this means that its Pacific neigbours are undertaking the same initiatives together to achieve some levels of protection for their most valuable asset; Traditional Knowledge. These initiatives will ensure there is consistent regional protection for our Traditional Knowledge at the same level. This work feeds into legislation which will ensure protection of this knowledge at the highest national level.
Traditional knowledge has become the backbone to our tourism industry, our primary source of income and foreign exchange. Additionally unscrupulous people come to the Cook Islands in search of our knowledge including sometimes for commercial reasons without due consideration for the creators and holders of that knowledge. The Cook Islands therefore needs strong mechanisms to protect our knowledge and to provide opportunities for Cook Islands people. This policy recognizes the need for different forms and levels of protection to benefit the people of the Cook Islands.”
In terms of economic benefits, the document states that Quote:
“Government believes our traditional knowledge is the foundation from which our economy was built on. Government will support initiatives that will develop the economy. The economy today is basically private sector driven and the Government is committed to continuing that trend and providing support where it can to Cook Islands people who are innovators in the appropriate use of traditional knowledge through:
1. Establishing a link through the Ministry of Culture to channel effective support to the Are Korero of each traditional communities for the effective promotion of culture;
2. Supporting creative, innovative and enterprising initiatives to further enhance and promote TK as an economic product;
3. Create a brand for all Cook Islands products using traditional knowledge and have a label that gives sufficient warning of its protection;
4. Supporting the Ministry of Education initiatives to develop and blend in enterprising skills with all essential learning areas in the curriculum;
5. Looking for markets that will likely demand for products of our traditional knowledge through Trade Promotion programs abroad;
6. Encouraging the use of our local and tourism markets to promote our products.”
A copy of the Policy document may be obtained from the Ministry of Cultural Development
The intention is to draft legislation at a later date following consultations with interested parties.

Herald Issue 554 09 March
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