International Seminar on Farmers' Rights in the Context of Global Regime on Intellectual Property Right
SAWTEE in association with Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) organised the international seminar titled 'Farmers' Right in the Context of Global Regime on Intellectual Property Right' on 28-29 August 2007. The objectives was to facilitate the discussion among diverse group of the stakeholders on the concept of farmers' rights from the perspective of breeders and farmers, examine the options available under and challenges posed by international and national Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) regimes, identify the mechanisms required to implement farmers' rights and develop international and national agenda for developing countries to help their governments and stakeholders in preparing negotiating positions for international negotiations.
In his inaugural speech, Hon'ble Mr Bhim Prasad Neupane, Member, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal highlighted the need to balance Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) with the rights of farming communities, in biodiversity rich countries like Nepal. According to him, current IPRs regime is not in favour of farmer's livelihood but however, there is room for making domestic policies farmer friendly. In this context, he mentioned that the Government of Nepal is in the process of implementing legislation on Plant Variety Protection ensuring farmer's rights. In his concluding remarks, he hoped that this seminar will produce an outcome that will be helpful in formulating a common negotiating position amongst South Asian countries.
Giving the welcome speech at the inaugural session of the seminar, Dr Pratap Shrestha, Executive Director of LI-BIRD highlighted the objectives and themes of the programme. According to him, biodiversity is closely associated with farming communities without which, conservation is not possible. At the same time, he also mentioned that commercial utilisation along with conservation of biodiversity is a must and such commercial ultilisation should not only be seen from a monetary perspective but also from cultural and livelihood perspectives.
Chairing the inaugural session, Mr Ratnakar Adhikari, Executive Chairman of SAWTEE highlighted the background of the Farmer's Rights Programme, which has been implemented in South Asia by SAWTEE in association with its network Members in the region. With regard to Article 27.3b of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) under the World Trade Organization (WTO), he said that developed countries are signing up bilateral trade agreements with developing countries after the partial failure of the Doha Round of trade negotiations. He was of the view that developed countries are exerting pressure on developing countries to agree to TRIPS plus conditions in these bilateral agreements, which is more harmful to the farming communities of developing countries. Concluding his remarks, he said that biodiversity must be utilised to secure the livelihood of farming communities along with its conservation.
Ms Rizwana Hasan, Director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyer's Association (BELA) gave her vote of thanks to all the participants at the seminar. She mentioned that farmer's rights should not only be seen in the context of IPRs in developing countries where farmers constitute a majority of the population.
Around 50 participants from 10 countries including Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Norway, France participated in the seminar.
|
