Intellectual property rights and animal genetic resources

League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, 2007

Confused about patents and how they relate to the livestock breeds? What's the difference between a patent and a trademark? A geographical indication and a sui generis system? What are Livestock Keepers' Rights?

This two-page leaflet explains it all in simple language.

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The State of the World report

LPP and Raika delegates at the Conference

The official report from the International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, held in Interlaken, Switzerland, on 3-7 September 2007, is available from FAO. This document includes the Interlaken Declaration on Animal Genetic Resources as well as a Global Plan for Animal Genetic Resources, both adopted by the official delegates to the conference.

The conference also adopted a comprehensive summary on livestock breeds. Titled The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, this report includes inputs from LPP's Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, Evelyn Mathias and Paul Mundy.

Non-government organizations organized a side event that ran at the same time as the main conference. This side event focused on aspects that the official government delegates to the conference risked neglecting: the important role of livestock keepers in conserving breed diversity, the role played by the livestock industry in eroding diversity, and the need to switch the focus of livestock development away from animal productivity and towards the needs and potential of the livestock keepers.

LPP was involved in several of the side event activities:

• Susanne Gura organized a session on the livestock genetics industry and its impact in developing countries
• Ilse Köhler-Rollefson organized a session on conserving genes, creating livelihoods - not without livestock keepers rights
• Evelyn Mathias organized a session on endogenous livestock development - supporting poor livestock keepers
• P. Vivekanandan of the LIFE Network (of which LPP is a member) organized a session community level conservation of indigenous animal breeds in India.

• Official conference report
• Conference website
• Conference report from the International Institute for Sustainable Development
• State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources report
• Side event website
• Scientific Forum on Animal Genetic Resources

A major Indian daily has reported on the Raika delegation's lobbying visit to Europe in favour of livestock keepers' rights.

"A delegation of 'Raikas' (camel breeders) from Rajasthan who visited Europe recently to meet fellow pastoralists and share traditional wisdom on livestock keeping, have returned after successfully convincing the decision-makers at global forums of the need to preserve livestock bio-diversity and indigenous production systems", reported The Hindu on 17 November 2007.

"Attending a series of high-level meetings in Europe, they advocated the rights of herding communities and sought recognition for their role in bio-diversity conservation," said The Hindu.

The Raika delegation attended a United Nations-sponsored conference in Interlaken, Switzerland, followed by a global gathering of pastoralists in Segovia, Spain.

"For the visiting camel breeders the high point of the trip was a rally through the heart of Madrid together with Spanish shepherds and their colleagues from Africa, Asia and the Americas," said the paper.

The Raikas' visit to Europe was supported by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development, and its Indian partner organization Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan.

Full report in The Hindu

Rolex Awards for Enterprise has again featured the work of LPP founder Dr Ilse Köhler-Rollefson.

The Rolex Awards website describes how Ilse is campaigning to conserve livestock breeds, and the rights of livestock keepers to control their animal genetic resources.

Rolex quotes Ilse as saying that "if companies are allowed to control animal genetics... the result could be just a few varieties of livestock... being raised worldwide, instead of a huge range of varieties adapted to their environments and to the economic needs of those who raise them."

"The only way to preserve them is to enable livestock-keepers to generate income, so that their way of life continues,” Ilse explains. “For the camels in Rajasthan, we have developed niche products, like camel milk ice cream, which is proving a success. We can thus help the herders and the camels to survive."

Ilse was named an Associate Laureate by Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 2002.

A revised and updated version is now available of Susanne Gura's groundbreaking study on "Livestock genetics companies: Concentration and proprietary strategies of an emerging power in the global food economy".

This study describes how a few large multinational companies dominate the breeding of cattle, pigs and poultry, and the effects this has on the economy, ecology and society.

The revised study is available in English, German and (soon) Spanish.