In French Guyana, Quassia amara, known locally as Couachi, is known for its antimalarial properties. This plant was patented in 2018 by the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD). However, this plant was identified by scientists thanks to the traditional knowledge of Guyana’s Indigenous peoples.
Although IRD finally abandoned the patent three years ago, Guyana’s Indigenous peoples continue to fight for recognition of the contribution of their traditional knowledge, since the patent is still considered valid. The Indigenous peoples of French Guyana see this patent as a case of biopiracy: their ancestral knowledge has been confiscated by laboratories linked to multinational corporations, while excluding the true authors of the discovery. They argue that the patent is illegal because it was drafted without regard for the rights of Indigenous peoples recognized by international treaties and, more importantly, because it violates the 2017 Law on Biological Diversity.
In Quebec, research on traditional knowledge used to treat the symptoms of diabetes was conducted by the Cree and researchers from McGill University, the University of Ottawa and Université de Montréal (UdeM). In 2009, the Crees signed a research agreement which respects the Eeyouch’s inherent right to intellectual property arising from collective knowledge to protect against biopiracy. In addition, the agreement, negotiated with the help of Elisabeth Patterson, stipulated that the Crees had a veto over all of the research group’s publications and could refuse to move toward commercialization. If they agreed, commercialization could only take place through a non-profit corporation.
It should be noted that although the agreement was not renewed, the scientists did publish.
See: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/espaces-autochtones/2015738/biopiratrie-connaissances-autochtones-medecine-brevet (in French only)
