Community Registries of Biodiversity-Related Knowledge

The document analyzes the use of registries and databases to document traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity. It evaluates how existing intellectual property (IP) frameworks—including copyright, patents, trade secrets, and the European Union's sui generis database rights—interact with these registries. The authors highlight a fundamental tradeoff: public registries promote preservation and can prevent third-party patenting by establishing 'prior art,' but they also increase the risk of misappropriation due to the limited legal protection for traditional knowledge. Case studies from India (People's Biodiversity Registers and SRISTI's Honey Bee) and Canada (Inuit of Nunavik and Dene) illustrate different approaches to documentation and access control. The paper concludes that current international law is inadequate for protecting traditional knowledge and suggests a combination of national legislation, professional codes of practice, and international multistakeholder institutions to ensure equitable benefit-sharing.

• Registries of traditional knowledge face a critical tradeoff between visibility and protection: public registries facilitate preservation and establish 'prior art' to block external patents, but they also expose knowledge to exploitation by users who may ignore benefit-sharing requirements.
• Conventional intellectual property rights are generally ineffective for protecting the contents of traditional knowledge registries because such knowledge often lacks a single identifiable inventor, is not considered 'novel' under patent law, or is already in the public domain.
• The European Union's sui generis database right provides a unique form of protection that allows registry owners to prevent the extraction or reuse of substantial parts of a database based on the 'substantial investment' made in its creation, regardless of whether the contents are original or novel.
• Trade secrets are currently the most common method for protecting registry contents, as they allow owners to use confidentiality agreements to enforce controls on use, although they are difficult to enforce and limit the public dissemination of knowledge.
• The People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR) in India aim to document local knowledge across various categories—including 'Peoplescape' and 'Landscape'—to prevent misappropriation and promote the revitalisation of local resource management.
• SRISTI's Honey Bee project in India utilizes a database of farmers' innovations and requires users to agree to acknowledge the source and share a 'reasonable share of the profit' if a commercial product is developed.

APA

Downes, D. R., Laird, S. A., Dutfield, G., Mays, T. D., & Casey, J. (1999). Community Registries of Biodiversity-Related Knowledge. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CommunityRegistries.pdf

Chicago

Downes, David R., Sarah A. Laird, Graham Dutfield, Thomas D. Mays, and James Casey. Community Registries of Biodiversity-Related Knowledge. Center for International Environmental Law, 1999. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CommunityRegistries.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Downes |first1=David R. |last2=Laird |first2=Sarah A. |last3=Dutfield |first3=Graham |last4=Mays |first4=Thomas D. |last5=Casey |first5=James |title=Community Registries of Biodiversity-Related Knowledge |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=1999 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CommunityRegistries.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{downes1999community, author = {Downes, David R. and Laird, Sarah A. and Dutfield, Graham and Mays, Thomas D. and Casey, James}, title = {{Community Registries of Biodiversity-Related Knowledge}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {1999}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CommunityRegistries.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }