The Vulnerability of African Indigenous Peoples' Traditional Meteorological Knowledge in the Climate Change Debate (original) (raw)

Indigenous peoples of the African continent-although victims of climate change-have accumulated Meteorological Traditional Knowledge (MTK) over generations and are ideally positioned to offer their expert MTK to the scientific community. 1 MTK is a part of the intangible heritage of African indigenous peoples and can contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, MTK as an emerging sui generis resource is vulnerable to biopiracy and misappropriation; this mirrors generally the experiences indigenous peoples have had when sharing their traditional knowledge. At the Indigenous Peoples Global Summit in Alaska (2009), the indigenous representatives from the Arctic, North America, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, Africa, Caribbean and Russia, adopted the Anchorage Declaration. The Declaration concluded: 'We offer to share with humanity our TK, innovations, and practices relevant to climate change, provided our fundamental rights as intergenerational guardians of this knowledge are fully recognized and respected'. 2 Additionally the representatives stated 1 In 2009 the African Commission passed 153 Resolution on Climate Change and Human Rights and the Need to Study its Impact in Africa 153(XLVI)09.