Mr. Olav Kjørven, Political Adviser

“Biological Diversity and Indigenous Rights”

Statement to the Tenth Anniversary Seminar of the Norwegian Rainforest Foundation, June 10, 1999

Distinguished participants at this important seminar,

Thank you for this opportunity to address you this morning, on the topic of biological diversity and indigenous rights. Congratulations to the Norwegian Rainforest Foundation, celebrating its 10th anniversary and making important contributions to furthering the protection of rainforests and the rights of indigenous peoples.

On behalf of the Government of Norway I want, however, to extend a special, warm welcome to our guests from around the world, representatives of several of the world’s forest dwelling indigenous peoples. You are stewards of so much precious knowledge and wisdom, and stewards of so much of the Earth’s abundance of life. Because, what is biological diversity if not abundance of life?

I am acutely aware that “modern society” is showing you, the indigenous people of the world, little respect--especially in deeds. For some of you, existence itself may be at stake. I am also acutely aware that I myself is a representative of that same “modern society” which encroaches upon and too often destroys your way of life. It is deeply ironic, because by doing so we undermine not only your future, but also our own.

We must change our ways. And we must learn from you. I hope you will get a sense from my remarks here today that we are trying to make progress, and trying to develop the policies and tools that can make further progress possible. Our objectives must be:

• To contribute to halting the destruction of the world’s remaining rainforests, and, of course, biodiversity more broadly speaking, and
• To contribute to advancing the fundamental rights of the indigenous peoples: primarily because this is a moral imperative in its own right, but also because it is necessary if we are to succeed in meeting other fundamental objectives, including that of preserving biodiversity and the rainforests themselves.

Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge

I have been asked today to address specifically the relationship between the loss of the worlds rainforests and biodiversity, and indigenous rights. Let me first say a few words about the relationship between biodiversity and cultural diversity, and about indigenous knowledge as part of that diversity.

Many of the areas of highest biological diversity on the planet are inhabited by indigenous and traditional peoples, providing what the Declaration of Belem calls an ”inextricable link” between biological and cultural diversity. In fact, of the nine countries which together account for 60 percent of human languages, six of these ”centres of cultural diversity” are also ”megadiversity” countries in biological terms.

The linkage between humans and biodiversity are as old as humans themselves. Efforts to conserve biological diversity and sustainably use its components must take into consideration the interface between culture and biological resources. Well before the rise of modern society, communities throughout the world prospered by husbanding biological resources in their efforts to adapt to local environmental conditions.

In the process a sophisticated and wide-ranging body of knowledge, innovations and practices developed, inextricably linked to the use of biological resources. It enabled many communities to live within the limits of their local environment and contributed to their cultural and spiritual identity as well.

The accelerated loss of biological diversity represents not only a loss of genes, species and ecosystems, it also tears at the very fabric of human cultural diversity which has co-evolved with, and has depended on, their continued existence. As the communities, languages and practices of indigenous and local peoples die out, lost forever is the vast library of knowledge accumulated, in some cases, over thousands of years. This is occurring at a time when modern society is just beginning to understand and appreciate the potential value of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices for its own survival.

It is therefore of great significance that International Law has something to say about this. The Convention on Biological Diversity is a landmark achievement in that it gives recognition to the key role of indigenous and local communities in in situ conservation. The preamble recognises the “ close and traditional dependence of many indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles on biological resources, and the desirability of sharing equitably benefits arising from the use of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices relevant to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.”

Article (8j) of the Convention spells out a specific obligation of each state, or Contracting Party (in legaleze): Subject to its national legislation, to respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practises of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and promote the wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of such knowledge, innovations and practices.

The Convention on Biological Diversity enshrines the importance of customary practice in biodiversity conservation and calls for its protection and for equitable benefit-sharing from the use and application of ”traditional technologies”. Modern society has already benefited from traditional knowledge and innovations with few, if any, direct benefits having gone back to the traditional communities. For example, virtually all plant-derived drugs used in modern Western medicine were discovered from their use in traditional societies, not by random screening. Furthermore, modern plant and animal breeders very often rely on the genetic diversity found in traditional land races and animal breeds developed by countless generations of traditional farmers to create modern hybrid seeds and improved animal stock.

Modern society will continue to benefit from the collection, dissemination and application of traditional knowledge and innovation. The challenge will be to develop appropriate policies and legislation which will promote wider application of such knowledge, while at the same time ensuring that the holders of this knowledge consent and share the benefits in a just and equitable manner.

Traditional knowledge, innovations and practices are often referred to as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). TEK is far more than a simple compilation of facts. It is the basis for individual and collective decision-making in areas of contemporary life, including natural resource management, food production and nutrition, health, education, and community and social organisation.

As an example, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as much as 80% of the non-industrial world‘s population still relies on traditional forms of medicines, And many indigenous groups are returning to their ancient medicines and incorporating traditional forms of treatment into their health service programmes. Even in industrialised countries, more and more people are turning to alternative health treatments. For example, Americans spend more on complementary approaches than on hospitalisation, while Australians pay out more on alternative medicines than pharmaceuticals. Traditional ecological knowledge is something we all depend on in our daily lives, to greater or lesser extent.

Biodiversity and Indigenous Rights: Key Processes and Forums

The Norwegian government is participating in many international processes and forums where we promote the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity and indigenous rights. I would like to mention some of these forums and processes which I think are central to the issue we are discussing today.

Recognition by the Biodiversity Convention of the contribution of indigenous and traditional peoples to maintaining biological diversity is a major political advance as I said earlier. But a lot is left to be desired. Once traditional ecological knowledge or genetic material leave the community in which they are embedded, there is yet little national protection and virtually no international law that properly protect community ”knowledge, innovations, and practices”.

Intellectual Property Rights laws do not enable all creative or inventive expressions to be protected. Intellectual Property Rights were established to protect individual inventions and inventors, not the collective, ancient folklore and traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous and local communities. Even if intellectual property rights were secured for communities, differential access to patents, copyright, legal aid, etc. would generally price them out of any effective registry, monitoring or litigation.

The World Trade Organisation’s General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (WTO/GATT) contains no explicit reference to the knowledge and genetic resources of traditional peoples. It only provides that States develop sui generis systems for plant protection (TRIPs Article 27.c). Considerable efforts are made both by governments and non-governmental organisation into defining what new, alternative models of protection might or should include.

The Norwegian government considers it very important to achieve consistency between Intellectual Property Rights laws, relevant provisions of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) under the WTO, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. We therefore support the initiative taken by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to address this issue in a comprehensive way.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 is the only legally binding international instrument specifically intended to protect indigenous and tribal peoples. This convention, which Norway has ratified as one out of only 13 State Parties, is clear in its commitment to community ownership and local control of lands and resources. It does not, however, cover the numerous traditional and peasant groups that are also critical to conserving the diversity of agricultural, medicinal, and non-domesticated resources. Although the Convention has few Parties, it provides an important forum for debate on indigenous rights.

I would also like to mention that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is revising its International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, with the view to strengthening or expanding ”Farmers Rights”. At the Eighth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, 19-23 April this year, an agreement where reached on a specific article on Farmers Rights which is the first international recognition of its kind. Norway has promoted the inclusion of this article, and considers it a big step forward that it has been accepted.

The Norwegian government strongly supports the ongoing efforts of the working group appointed to develop a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are committed to work actively with states and indigenous peoples to achieve, as soon as possible, a sound and constructive declaration which supports the indigenous peoples’ claims to their natural resources, including the forests where they live and on which they depend. Norway also supports the establishment of a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples in the UN system.

We know all to well that we cannot achieve sound results that are acceptable from the perspectives of indigenous peoples and biodiversity if we as a government operate in isolation from indigenous peoples themselves and groups in civil society that are engaged in these issues. This is all the more true for the international processes and forums where states meet to discuss and try to reach agreements pertaining to indigenous peoples, biodiversity and other global concerns. This is why we provide financial support for NGOs and indigenous peoples to enable their active participation in many of the above mentioned political processes and forums.

The Role of Development Assistance

An important instrument for advancing indigenous rights and biodiversity conservation is our international development cooperation. The government supports a wide range of activities through multilateral channels, in our bilateral assistance administered by NORAD, and through NGOs such as the Rainforest Foundation. However our support to indigenous people have not so far been framed within a coordinated and unified policy.

In order to rectify this weakness and based on a full evaluation submitted to the Ministry a few months ago, we are preparing a plan for our future assistance to indigenous people. A key challenge in this work is to harmonize the biodiversity conservation agenda with our efforts for indigenous people. Because one cannot succeed without the other.

Programs and projects earmarked to support indigenous people—while important--are clearly not sufficient to turn the tide, no matter how perfectly designed they might be. It is at least as important to look critically at how our overall development assistance is construed: Does our general development assistance support and enhance our efforts to support indigenous people or could it be that what we do with one hand is in conflict with what the other hand does? We need to ensure that we factor in the potential impacts of our development assistance on indigenous people and other vulnerable groups. We need to seek synergy rather than conflicts between our goals.

One such field where real synergy is possible is in the area of natural resources management. We are putting increased emphasis on natural resource management in our bilateral state-to-state assistance, in sectors such as agriculture, water and energy.

This means, inter alia, that we are working with our partners to strengthen management and protection of forests, in ways that can be of the truly “win-win” kind: by helping to preserve forests we are can help protect key watersheds. This in turn secures clean and stable water supply, and helps avoid siltation of dams and reservoirs downstream. More significantly, these efforts are of critical importance to indigenous peoples and other traditional users of the forests. And finally, enhanced biodiversity protection benefits all of us directly and indirectly.

In our efforts we are seeking to combine action on the ground (demarcation, community development, reforestation, etc.) with technical assistance, support to institution building and policy advice to relevant agencies.

Norwegian development assistance is also but a small piece of the total puzzle. It is partly because of this realization that donor coordination is a top priority for the government in our overall development policy. Real progress in any area of development cooperation—including with respect to indigenous peoples or saving the rainforests of the world—will depend in no small measure on the extent to which donors can get their act together and support host countries in a coordinated and transparent way. We are therefore spending a lot of our time and efforts at pushing this issue in international donor forums, and in helping develop better tools and instruments for real donor coordination.

The Bigger Picture

We all know that international development assistance is but one dimension of the problem complex before us. To strive for progress and solutions we must cast our net even wider. Economic developments at large—at the national level as well as globally--affects the lives and future of indigenous people and other vulnerable groups everywhere.

To make progress in a real way will require political will at a different scale from what we are seeing today, locally within each country, nationally, and internationally. It requires further progress in international law, changes in international trade policies and macro-economic policies at the country level, and changes in important sectoral policies such as for forestry, transport, mining and energy.

It requires political reforms in the direction of greater empowerment and participation in decision making. It requires a new kind of understanding and conduct in the private sector, something which in no small measure is a public policy responsibility to generate. Here, also, pressure and support from civil society is critical.

In other words, the challenge before us is big. It requires efforts along multiple paths and in many theatres. It requires active diplomacy, building of partnerships, active advocacy, action on the ground. It requires financing and the ability to communicate effectively, but more than anything it requires will, determination, and hope. I hope this anniversary and this seminar serves the purpose of building up these fundamental qualities.

Finally I would like to again congratulate the Rainforest Foundation with the celebration of the 10th anniversary. The government strongly supports the Rainforest Foundation’s objectives and way of working, and is happy to provide financial contributions to the work of the Foundation. We believe the Foundation is making very important contributions to strengthening of the role of indigenous and local communities, and to furthering the cause of conservation and sustainable use of rainforest biological diversity. This is a high and noble cause. I want to wish you all the best as you continue fighting the good struggle.