Garuwanga: Forming a Competent Authority to protect Indigenous knowledge - Final Report

Abstract

This document reports on the outcomes of the ARC Linkage funded project, Garuwanga: Forming a Competent Authority to Protect Indigenous Knowledge (the Garuwanga Project).

The Garuwanga Project employs the Nagoya Protocol as the basis upon which the research seeks to explore possible options in Australia for implementing the Protocol’s provisions regarding competent authorities for the protection, administration and management of Indigenous knowledge. The Nagoya Protocol came into force on 12 October 2014, and has already been ratified by 138 United Nations (UN) member states including the European Union. Implementation of the Protocol requires the establishment of national focal points and competent national authorities (which may be one and the same). Such authorities, if created as non-government organisations and/or if governed by representatives of the communities they are intended to protect, could assist Indigenous communities to achieve self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

This report outlines the forms of competent authorities already established by other nations to protect Indigenous knowledge as well as the legal and governance structures already utilised by Indigenous communities in Australia to protect their knowledge and culture.

A key feature of this project is the Indigenous governance principles developed to evaluate Australian-based organisations that could provide potential models for such a competent authority. With the assistance of these principles and the outcomes of the Garuwanga Project 'on Country' consultations, the project has proposed a tiered approach for competent authorities to operate in Australia starting with the local or regional level and being supported by a reporting and standard-setting body at the national level. A national level organisation of this kind may form the Australian national competent authority as provided for under the Nagoya Protocol.

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge, Traditional knowledge, Traditional cultural expressions, Nagoya Protocol, UNDRIP, Competent Authority, Intellectual Property, ICIP

JEL Classification: K20, O34, K11, Q56, Q57