Mahop, Marcelin Tonye --- "Avenues to Ensure Full Participation of Rural Communities in Access Authorisation Processes in Cameroon and South Africa" [2007] ELECD 285; in Westkamp, Guido (ed), "Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Westkamp, Guido

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845427757

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: Avenues to Ensure Full Participation of Rural Communities in Access Authorisation Processes in Cameroon and South Africa

Author(s): Mahop, Marcelin Tonye

Number of pages: 25

Extract:

16. Avenues to ensure full participation
of rural communities in access
authorisation processes in Cameroon
and South Africa
Marcelin Tonye Mahop*
This chapter considers Cameroon and South Africa, two countries rich in
biological and cultural diversity, as sources of materials used in scientific
research with potential commercial applications. Field activities and an inten-
sive literature search aimed at assessing biodiversity research activities and the
existing regulations were carried out in Cameroon and South Africa. The main
issues investigated include the usefulness of biological resources and tradi-
tional knowledge to rural communities and the extent to which their local
management practices achieve sustainability; the extent to which the existing
regulations in Cameroon and South Africa exclude rural communities from the
decision-making processes pertaining to access; cases of scientific and
commercial use that have stimulated the depletion of resources, raising
concerns about sustainability. Following this assessment, this chapter
discusses some workable avenues aimed at ensuring the full participation of
rural communities in the decision-making processes pertaining to access to
biological resources for corporate use. The proposed full participation is meant
to provide incentives to rural communities to strengthen their commitment to
biodiversity conservation at the local level.




* I am thankful to Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, Queen
Mary, University of London for providing the Herchel Smith fellowship, without which
this contribution would not have been produced. Special thanks to Graham Dutfield,
Michael Blakeney and Duncan Mathews for their attention to this research.

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