The definition of biopiracy also has a direct relationship with the ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples and nationalities. On many occasions, the properties of a plant are discovered by certain communities that have used it, for thousands of years, for common purposes.
Target 13 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Framework on “benefit sharing of genetic resources, digital sequence information and traditional knowledge” recognizes the importance of indigenous peoples and their relationship with nature.
Patents have emerged from this ancient connection and, on several occasions, indigenous communities have not received the derived benefits.
One of the most relevant cases for Ecuador and for the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica) was that of ayahuasca.
After living with the Sequoia people for more than 10 years, Miller learned the knowledge associated with this plant.
This case was a clear violation of the value system and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples.
Ayahuasca in the Amazon is used for social, religious and medicinal purposes. In addition, shamans use it for divination and for the purpose of performing ceremonies from a supernatural context and connection with their environment.
Gregorio Díaz Mirabal, coordinator of Climate Change and Biodiversity at Coica, mentions that “the basis of knowledge of indigenous peoples, be it plants or biodiversity, is through language, our communion, our art, our music, our dance, our songs. , our ceremony. Everything that has to do with our cultural calendar.”
At the end of the 90s, Coica began a legal process before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In 1999, the patent on ayahuasca was revoked until 2001, when the Patent Office, after an appeal by Miller, issued a certificate for the patent to remain in effect until the end of its term: June 2003.
Target 13 will be a point of discussion at COP16. This also has a direct connection with the Nagoya Protocol; since it highlights the strengthening of capacities in communities to benefit from knowledge related to genetic resources.
For Díaz Mirabal, “the meaning of the Nagoya Protocol, and the spirit, is very good, but it is not fulfilled. So, I believe that there must be implementation and application agreements that are real.”
Furthermore, Díaz Mirabal and Núñez agree that in the country, there is still no real system for sharing the benefits of genetic resources associated with traditional knowledge.
