Biocultural community protocols to help address injustices of the past

Across the world, local and indigenous communities continue to be vulnerable to biopiracy and misappropriation of their cultural heritage. In South Africa, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) is helping these communities to protect their indigenous knowledge resources by supporting them in developing biocultural community protocols.

Biocultural community protocols (BCPs) are instruments that set out clear terms and conditions under which governments, companies, research institutions and non-profit organisations can engage with communities to access their local resources and knowledge.

The importance of BCPs took centre stage last week during a webinar organised by the DSI to encourage communities to participate in compiling their own BCPs. The webinar was held under the theme "Making sense of biocultural protocols to protect the cultural and biological heritage of indigenous communities".

The BCP concept is embedded in the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, which came in force in 2014.

South Africa is a contracting party to the Protocol, which is the first legally binding international instrument to encourage states to respect the rights of indigenous communities. Specifically, Article 12 requires parties to consider the "customary laws, community protocols and procedures" of communities with respect to indigenous knowledge associated with genetic resources.

In South Africa, the BCP approach is reinforced by a number of policies that recognise the role of indigenous communities in biodiversity conservation and food production and the value of their resources. Most importantly, the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Act, 2019 (IK Act) makes it mandatory for any party wishing to use a community's indigenous knowledge to consult with the community under the terms and conditions of a BCP. 

This was applied most recently when scientists and researchers seeking possible leads in response to COVID-19 were required to engage with communities on the basis of a BCP.

Addressing the webinar, panellist Shumi Pango of the DSI emphasised that the Department does not itself develop BPCs, but rather plays a facilitating role in this process. Pango said it was vital for communities to develop their own protocols, based on local needs and conditions, to ensure that the benefits gained from the use of their resources were equitably shared.

Pango further explained that BCPs were conditions set out by a community for gaining access to their land, resources and knowledge – and not a guarantee that the community would consent to an external intervention or project.

"The preparation of a community protocol is a participatory process that brings together indigenous communities to discuss and determine their rights over traditionally used resources and knowledge," Pango said.

Donald Lefatshe from Lefatshe Holdings, who also participated in the webinar, stressed that communities had to be provided with all relevant information, in a language they understood well, and with enough time to consider the information, before they made a decision.

"Permission to third parties to access communities' resources should be granted by the communities themselves, and the process should free from intimidation," Lefatshe said.

Dr Motheo Koitsiwe, Acting Director of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Centre at North-West University, said BPCs introduced a new paradigm in conducting research in local and indigenous communities.

"The concept of research has a western orientation, and many researchers doing research in our local communities do not use our African indigenous methodologies but rather use their own methodologies, which are exploitative."

Dr Koitsiwe welcomed the IK Act and the facilitation of BCPs with local communities.  "North-West University together with the DSI has been actively involved in raising awareness of BPCs in local communities," he said. "We have been to Ledig in North West, Khayakhulu, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape."

The DSI, working in collaboration with the Attaqua community in the southern Cape, recently completed its first government-led BCP.