BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Consultations conducted within the Caribbean region have revealed that there are numerous threats to traditional knowledge (TK).
Regional Consultant with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Mary Ann Richards says that there is a lack of knowledge about the contribution that TK has made in the past and can make in the future to development. She made the point while addressing those attending the opening of a two-day seminar hosted by the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office at the Baobab Towers yesterday.
“We don’t seem to realise that our hunters and farmers etc know a lot, if they are observant, know a lot about plants and animals and their migratory process and their reproductive cycle – all those kinds of things are very important and we don’t understand that,” she said.