| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Indigenous peoples have been marred for centuries by the incredulous theft of knowledge they obtained, and even resources they use. The thieves are superior, more developed powers that jealously protect the rights to knowledge that is not rightfully theirs. They then refuse to recognize that the true ownership of such precious information belongs to Native Peoples. Indigenous knowledge is stolen without the slightest consideration to the powerful implications that it comes equipped with. The moral repercussions behind such an unethical system leads to loss of Native culture and sustainability and a shift from using Native knowledge and resources for social needs to profit generation. These problems are exacerbated by the use of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and the situation has delved to the point where nations bypass indigenous consent and wrongfully patent their knowledge and resources.
Why Indigenous Knowledge Is So Important
Knowledge of the natural world is not limited to science. Peoples spanning across the world have developed, over many years, a set of culturally rich knowledge systems that have been a result of the environments that they live in. Indigenous knowledge revolves around the environment and is of a largely ecological type. It is also referred to, by the World Bank, as the "traditional knowledge of the uses of plants" and even "ethnobotany."
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