No  incentive ever works in isolation. Given the peculiarities of human nature, an incentive ceases to be one if it seeks to settle the contribution of other parties completely. It is the proportion of unredeemed IOUs which renders a relationship, a listing value and dignity. If one feels short changed for too long, one may opt out of the transactions. Lot of poor people are losing confidence in official machineries set up for the purpose.

For a large number of knowledge-rich economically - poor people, incentives for conservation at the minimum, imply freedom to pursue their livelihood support systems without undue harassment at the hands of bureaucracy as well as exploitation by the market forces. The inherent generosity of the local communities and individuals has been exploited by various sections of society for a long time. Intellectuals have not been any exception to this pattern of exploitation. Almost entire ethno-biological research has been pursued without any reciprocity towards local communities and herbalists conserving diversity and knowledge associated around it. Not only has the local knowledge never been acknowledged but een the economic gains accruing from the value addition have also not been shared with the providers of the knowledge and conservators of the diversity.

In such a historical context, several relationships have to redefined. A portfolio of incentives wil have to be developed suitable for different situations. No one set of incentive, no matter how effective, will suffice. The `sequential synergism ‘( Gupta,1981) will also have to be taken into account. This implies that same set of incentives in different sequence may generate different kind of synergies. For instance, if one honors the local herbalists and healers which in turn generates bigger market for their services getting them more economic gains, it might appear more dignified than the other way round. Further the value addition in their knowledge (which is uncertain and long term ) with sharing of royalties may take place after these processes. In another setting, provision of basic health needs may be the first priority if average longevity is lower due to various diseases and other disabilities. It is argued and rightly so that basic needs should not be treated as inecntives. These are basic human rights and shoudl e avaiobel to every humna being no mattter whether one conserved diversity and realted knowledge or not. A word of caution is in order . One should avoid the mistakes that many northern countries committed in their native area reservations. Th economic incentives devoi d of any gainful employment opportuntie sled to serious social, health and cultural problems, high obsesity, diabetes, alcohlism, crime, and other problems were not only avoidable and but also predictable. Even the quality of infrastrure in these areas is signifivantly worse than the rest of N Americas. Such discrimination is a disincentive. It generates suspicion and doubts about the intentions of other parties. Th esituaton in tribal areasof developing countries is not very much better. The irony is that in the discussions on benefit sharing and other such issues, the indgneous peopleof the north get priority and get heard much more than the millions o flocal communities of third world. A very small non enterpreneurial coterie of indigenous people networks dominates these discussions and obviously does not let nay progeress be made in creating experimentation with a portfolio of incentives.

This paper makes a departure from suhc an approach and provides a wide range of choices to policvy makers and supporting institutions for trying things out.

Contracts are legally binding agreements between two or more parties containing obligations that are to be fulfilled by all the sides. The contracts may be Bi-lateral or Multi-lateral depending upon the parties involved, it may be for fixed time limit or its duration may depend upon completion of all obligations or mutual agreements to terminate it. Contracts are used to define and establish certain relationships legally such as between a drug company and a supplier of biological samples. Contracts are usually in form of written documents that are signed by all the parties. Some of the contracts and agreements that may be used for negotiating benefit sharing are defined below;

1. Material Transfer Agreements :

An MTA establishes the transfer of bio-resources for research and possible commercialisation in exchange for benefits to the provider. The provider might be a government collecting organisation (e.g. botanical garden or gene bank) local communities, individuals and private bodies. The recipient may be a Multi National Corporation, an International Institution, or a foreign researcher or domestic users or subsidiary of inetrnational organization.

The MTA defines the property rights of the recipient intending to utilise the biological resource for value addition-- a new variety, drug or any other natural prodcut- to be proected by trade secrets, patents or plant as per the mutually agreed terms. In exchange the recipients has to compensate the provider as per the terms of the MTA.

Similarly the MTA have to be signed by the recepient of germ plasm from FAO collection of germ plasm, now under World Bank. Recent case of plant variety proection by an Australian breeder of two accessions taken from ICRISAT’s collection, without any value addition received widespread criticsm. The World bank announced the moratarium on proection of any materailk received from CG collections. However, the issue is that local communities which donated these germ plasm/land races will not benefit merely by keepingthese collections in the gene bank.. Thus what we need is a proper material transfer agreement with adequate safegurad against such misuse of the privelege. WE allso need that every plant variety proection agency and patent offfivce shoudl be obliged to seek a certificat ethat the material invention in question is based on material and or information obtained law fuly and through proper authorization. Thus if any case of misue is found, the case for criminal ofense can be filed.

Matetial transfer agreements shoudl be necessary for domestic users whethr for research or commercial purpose by a seed company. Th erate and duration fo beenfit sharing may vary but their obligation towards conservation as well as benefit sharing cannot be questioned. The proposed biodiversity bill does provide for this contingency at all.

MTA shoudl also provide for such use of materail which is for general well being of humnakind and poses no threat to public safety or order. Thus any application for cultures of harmful micro-organisms has to be scrutinised very carefully.

In addition MTA shoudl also make it obligatory for value added prodcuts devloped tobe made accessible to the raw material providing community/gene bank at consessional rates.

To differentiate between access to knowledge system associated with the biodiversity from the biodiversity itself, the term Knowledge is being used in place of the word Material in MTA. An KTR agreement may be signed between communities and the corporations for access being made to the traditional biodiversity associated knowledge systems and the biological diversity.

Generally, it is the ethno-biologists who are supposed to enter into KTRs. Honey Bee network follows a policy of disclosure of intent to every innovative farmer whose knowledge, innovation , and practice is documented. In addition , we also undertake to acknowledge very innovation in terms of name and address of the inovator as well as comunicator through whom it is learnt. In the case of traditional knowledge, it is so recorded with improvements brought about there in.

It shoudl be noted that KTA wil have legitimacy only when a regsietry exists according some kind of property rights to local communities and indivfduals over their knwoledge systems.

3. Licensing agreements

A community, institution or corporation may prefer not to commercialise a product to which it has intellectual property rights itself, but instead, either sell the patent or sign a licensed agreement with another company/agency or individual that has better facilities. The greater the commercial potential of patented information or unpatented know-how more expensive will be the license. Licensing agreements could enable a traditional community to gain income by sharing its knowledge with outsiders while at the same time preventing unwanted commercial exploitation. One way to adopt would be a confidentiality clause of a contract involving the transfer of indigenous knowledge to others.

The licensing agreements are supposed to take into account several other features/ possibilities, ( a) whethr the licensee is permitted to transfer the know how and technologies with or without associated material to third party for research and /or comemrcial purposes, (b) any restriction on the use of the technology and material, (c) time frane in which the technology has to be worked ( some times one may take licesnse not to work it but block the entry of the licesned technology into market for various reasons), (d) exception clause for revoking the trem of licesne in either national interest after giving prior notice and opportunity to explian and defend the license etc.

The public notice of any license granted for access or use of technologies or reosurces under common domain may help achive thre things, ( a) increased awareness may improve the opportunities for licensor of technologies or materials for futur elicenses, (b) given higher number of bids, the existing licensee amy like to improve the trms of licesne to keep the right in the long term, ( c) once peole become aware of the gains that are possibel by licensing , they mayt givemore attention to the conservation and efficient utilization of diversity and associated knowledge.

It is a kind of legally binding contract between two or more parties for accessing certain practical knowledge or expertise known only to a few people capable o fbeing used for development of a product. An agreement between a pharmaceutical company and group or network of herbalist for access to latter’s know-how will fall under this category.

It should be rememebered that in any technology transfer, the most important aspect often is eh tacit knowledge i.e. the knowledge which is embodied in one’s experience and can not be transfred liek a tangible manual or docuemnt.

The agreements signed between two or more parties to maintain the confidentiality of the information shared is termed as confidentiality agreement. Agreements between a Bioprospectig firm and a Bio-resource country may like to keep the technology and bioprospecting intent confidential.

Non legal agreements are more likely to be used compared to the contracts. The letter of intent usually outlines the preliminary understanding between the parties who intend to enter into a contract. When letters of intent are signed with communities during collection, the provision of MTA may also apply.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

Memorandum of Understanding is a framwoerk of cooperation and legally non-binding contract. It is used as a statement of intention and can serve as a starting point for subsequent negotiation. These types of agreements can address issues of confidentiality, sharing of research results, and the provision of benefits to supplier-contractees. But they do not safeguard the rights of local communities and are not legally enforceable.

Royal Botanical Garden Kew has developed an MOU for seed collection and biochemistry which outline the institutional policy with regard to the return of benefits and the design of equitable arrangements between RBG and collaborators. The MOU addresses issues concerning confidentiality, equal sharing of benefits and research results. For example, the Seed Bank Agreements explicitly state the RBG will return 50% of any commercial benefits to local collaborators and deposit herbarium vouchers of all collections in local herbaria.

Covenants serve to establish principles that can lead to legally binding agreements, which contain moral and ethical commitments beyond mere commercial agreements.

Intellectual Property Rights have been used to guarantee the rights of legal individuals to profit from the innovations for a given period of time. Thse rrights signify a contract between society and the inventor or innovators. Society grant the inventor or innovator a right to exclude others from utlising his/her innovation for a give period of time in lieu of the disclosure of the innovation by the inventor. Thus patents are about sharing informationb and not about secreacy. Furthermore, IPR protection requires access to information, good legal advice and financial resources, all of which may be beyond the reach of indigenous people. However, by using less popular mechanisms such as petty or innovation patent systems or collective management of IPRs, some of the weaknesses of the conventional patent systems could be overcome. Collective managemnt of IPRs by musicians, authors etc., can be used for networks of traditional healers, herbalists etc. , so that each one of them rather than registering their knowledge individually or enforcing their rights individually, takes help of collective voluntary institution.

A patent is a legal certificate that gives an inventor exclusive right to prevent others from producing, using, selling, or importing the invention for a fixed period. Legal action can be taken against those who infringe the patent by copying the invention or selling it without the permission from the patent owner. Patents can be licensed, sold, hired or bought. A patent application, however, must satisfy the patent examiner that the invention is novel, non-obvious and useful. Several kinds of patents exist (a) product patents – it covers all possible known uses of a product, for example, a drug patented for cure of cancer may also be used for heart under the same patent if so claimed. (b) Use patent – this covers a specific use only, thus it would cover only the cure of cancer and not any use found later. (c) Processes – it protects the process with any product but does not protect the product if manufactured by a different process. (d) Product by process – it covers only products made by the process described in the application.

APPLICABILITY – Some knowledge of indigenous people may be patented under the product patent regime. However, the cost of patenting, time consumed, and the rigour of examination may be beyond the means of many communities unless cost effective means are develped.

It is different from the normal patent as the incremental level of inventiveness required is much less, the requirement of non-obviousness is far less stringent and the period of protection is much shorter.

USEFULNESS – The petty patent regime may be useful for protecting some of the indigenous knowledge, or know-how specially related to medicinal preparation derived from plants.

Copy right law is intended to protect authors by granting exclusive rights to sell their rights in whatever tangible form being used to convey their creative expression to the public. However, legal protection covers the expression of the idea contained, not the idea itself. Copy rights owners have the legal right to stop others from copying or reproducing the work, performing the work in the public, making a sound recording or motion picture, broadcasting, adapting or translating the work. Copyrights proetct orginality.

USEFULNESS – Copy right as a tool for protection has limited value. It may be used to protect the folklore knowledge available with the indigenous communities. In Australia, aboriginal artist has successfully sued from the basis of copy rights. The law is being used world-wide by indigenous group to control documentation of their traditional knowledge.

Trademark is a marketing tool, that is often used to support a company’s claims that its products are authentic or distinctive compared with similar products from another company or trading entity. It consists of a distinctive design, series of words usually placed on the product label and perhaps displayed in advertisements.

USEFULNESS – Indigenous peoples handicrafts and other art works are easily reproduced by non-indigenous people and sold at high price. Such imitation may be deterred by possibility of legal action under Trademarks Laws.

Industrial designs are drawings of a mchine of industrial process unique to a prodcution porocess. In the case of the biodiversity, the industrial designs of machines which add value toi local diversity and can be operated at small scale may be of particular interest.

Know-how is the practical information that may give a person or a company a competitive advantage. As long as only a few people know the information, it can be protected under Trade secrets despite its failure to fulfil the criteria of patentability. Agreements between the indigenous people and others to respect the confidential nature of information disclosed and strictly enforce access restriction.

USEFULNESS – Trade Secrets Act may be used to take action against anybody who access information by illicit means for profit making. The offender may be forced to share its profits with the communities. However, it has been suggested that knowledge shared by all members of the community may not qualify as the trade secret.

Under the Plant Variety Protection Act, the Plant Breeders Rights may be awarded to an individual, institution, or organisation if the plant variety is distinct, stable, uniform and novel.

USEFULNESS – PBR could be a useful tool for indigenous people as it is less expensive. that the variety is eligible for a certificate might be difficult unless supported by formal institutions. However, carrying out the field trials and recording results to demonstrate to the examiner does need time and resources. Recently, pest resistant high yielding ground nut variety viz. Thakrshi , bred by Thakarshi Bhai was included in the All India co-ordinated Trials for its formal evluation before its release in the areas in which it is found suitable.

Geographic indications identify a good as originating in the territory or a region or locality in the territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characters of good is essentially attributable to its geographic origin. If we had such a law in our country, it woudl hav ebeen unthinkable for the American company to seek protection fo basmati rice variety with its loacl identity.

Certification and labelling of products are instruments to attract the interest of customers. Certification can be used to attract ethical investments from markets to conserve and protect resources and the environment, the people associated with it and the knowledge associated with them. Certification requires the attestation and the authentication by a certified auditor or organisation, i.e., an intermediate link between the customer and the producer. It helps distinguishing between products that may be substandard, inferior or fake. This has over the years made labelling and certification popular with "genuine" buyers and conscious industries have adopted this for successful marketing strategies.

Organic certification may act a very useful incentive measure for in situ conservation

of agro-biodiversity. Much of the production in biodiversity rich but economically disadvantaged regions is organic because of the (a) inability of local farmers to afford cheical inputs, (b) non availability of chemical intensive technologies for rainfed regions with heterogenous ecological environment, (c) poor market forces due to poor and uncertain yields and thsu low surplus.

Certification would generate additional income for osme of the poorest farmers and thsu induce them to grow land races (which otherwise are getting out of cultivation due to spread of HYVs) and invest part of the supluses in soil and water conservation as well.

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Resource and knowledge associated with resource is integral to the identity of local communities. Traditional Resource Rights (TRR) is an attempt to build upon the concept of IPR protection and compensation in that it recognises and rewards the contribution of local communities in the management of the resource both intangible and tangible forms. TRR can be implemented locally, nationally, regionally and internationally. They can serve as a guide to international law and practice and national legislation and also be a source to initiate a dialogue between the different stakeholders. TRR built upon the sui generis models in that they seek not only to protect knowledge relating to biological resources but also protect people’s rights, culture and knowledge associated with the resource.

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Community IPRs enable a community to assert and establish claim on developments, innovation, knowledge or resource that is novel. The Crucible Group (1994) states that for CIPR to be effective :

They have to be entrenched in appropriate national legislation with reciprocal recognition in other countries.

An international database would have to be created for tracing germplasm, possibly through the CGIAR system; and

A ‘public defender’ would have to be appointed in the shape of an ombudsman

Plant varieties developed by communities should be deposited in germplasm banks along with registration data, place, location of origin (including the names and addresses of the communities). Community IPRs application would have to include all this information

All germplasm currently existing in germplasm banks should be covered by legislation

National IPR offices and the international secretariat for each IPR convention should have an office to investigate complaints by local communities and governments , and a tribunal should have the power to revoke IPR

Fees derived from IPRs should be used to fund this office and give legal aid to local communities involved in dispute

To meet the novelty or innovation requirement of a regular patent protection criteria, indigenous people are the ‘true innovators’ because they have accumulated and built upon the knowledge systems that has remained largely unknown to the outside world. In the context of TRIPS and the CBD, it set out new criteria for claiming patent rights compatible with cultural values and practices of indigenous people. It includes a proposed ‘Registry of Innovation’ allowing communities to register ideas to control access to them and to prevent others from patenting them, in a manner similar to defensive publication.

 

Public Defender / Ombudsman

A body or individual who could intervene to adjudicate CIPRs or redress inequality of bargaining power, for example, between local communities and governments or developing countries and MNCs

The UNESCO and WIPO declared in 1985 a draft provision titled Model Provision for National Laws on Protection of Expressions of Folklore Against Illicit Exploitation and Other Prejudicial Actions. The objective was to go beyond conventional copyright by protecting intangible expressions as well as fixed works, which under Section 2 of the Provision encompass:

Folktales, folk poetry, and riddles

Folk songs and instrumental music

Folk dances, plays and artistic forms of rituals

Drawing, paintings, carvings, sculpture, pottery, terracotta, mosaic, woodwork, metalwork and others.

Though not included, a law on the ‘expression of folklore’ must include traditional genetic resources if the national legislation so wishes to interpret them in that way.

Inventors’ Certificates:

A proposed right of non-monopolistic control assigned to indigenous communities, to be recognised in the same way that foreign inventions are by the patent system, with a possibility of non-monetary rewards.

A possibility for the community to assess and understand its own resources can be done through initiatives like community registers. In this, people document all known plants and animal species with full details of their uses. Community members would then be in a position to refuse access to the register or set conditions under which access is allowed. It is even possible that a community could use the Community register as a evidence of intimate knowledge of the local environment to support claim to legal title of its territory. All though CRs are kept locally, they could be components of regional and national registers containing information freely available to communities. this would keep such information in the public domain. An example of this is the initiative taken by the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore.

By and large these negotiation instruments employ number of tools to arrive at benefit sharing mechanisms. As no single benefit sharing mechanism may be successful in all kinds of situations some possible monetary, non monetary, benefit sharing tools are being discussed here;

The payments of advance by the accessor to the individual, governments, communities, whether individually or collectively, for ensuring exclusive access to biological material, bio-information or bio-knowledge lead available with them is termed as advance payments. While advance payments involve a trade off in lower royalty rates, the risk is also reduced. It and act as source for meeting pressing individual and community needs. However, it is possible that advance payment may be the only monetary sharing in the agreement and the benefits shared later may be of other kinds.(training, capacity building or equipment donations). Advance payments have other advantages also as they provide evidence to both local communities and the government of the sincerity and the commitment of the partnership.

For example the African ICBG, with no major pharmaceutical company as a partner, has set aside a portion in the source countries for the governments to encourage R&D.

Up front payment generally mean that one single payment has been made by the accessor for having exclusive or nonexclusive (as per the negotiated terms) access to the biological or genetic resource of a country or with an individual for a specified period of time. The accessor is within his rights for applying for patents and may or may not share any further benefits with the provider.

Milestone payments are payments made at different stages of product development by the accessor to the provider. The milestone payment may be negotiated in tandem with advance payments. The milestone payments involve lot of risk, as the chances of biological material or knowledge lead converting into a commercialisable product are extremely low. However, the risk is hedged to some extent by negotiating an advance payment and later phased payment at various stages of development and commercialisation of the product. It goes without saying that in case a drug is developed from the material or knowledge lead the benefits will be overwhelming. Four different stages of milestone payment identified by pew conservation scholars are a) At the time of access, b) At the time of identifying potential value or c) Prototype development stage d) Commercialisation stage.

Royalty earning is a percentage of the income from the commercialised product. Royalty terms in the contract are generally negotiated as a range, depending upon the relative contribution of the partners to the invention and other aspects of the drug discovery process. For example, a commercialised product that is a direct isolate or very similar to the original extract provided by the source country may pay a higher royalty to the source country then the product synthesised by the pharmaceutical company based on the lead from the source country.

The time for discussing the terms of royalty by the provider country with the accessor is also very important. The best time for source country to negotiate the terms may be after the preliminary data on an extract shows therapeutic efficacy and the compound has been chemically analysed. The more information the source country can add regarding its extract or compounds the better royalty terms may be negotiated. In most agreements of the ICBG, royalties are preferred as the accessor (and the provider nation) believe that it is the only way to make sure that the flow of benefits occur beyond the advance and up front payments, especially when it is undesirable or ont possible for traditional knowledge to be compensated. The royalties may be paid annually, periodically or terminally as desired by the provider.

Reward

The reward system as a tool for benefit sharing is instituted to promote and conserve the biological diversity conservation effort and associated knowledge systems by providing incentive in monetary terms to the individuals, communities and the organisation that have performed exceptionally to achieve these objectives. Reward may be both monetary and non monetary.

Patent

The patents obtained or shared by the source country, institution, individual or local and indigenous community on biological material or knowledge based discoveries may also be used as tools of monetary benefit sharing. The patents can be sold, or licensed leading to monetary returns. In case of derivative patents also the fee for licensing is charged.

License fees

It is a type of contract between an intellectual property owner and another allowing the latter to manufacture, market or use the invention. The providers may charge a license fee for allowing use of certain bio-knowledge, ethnic knowledge etc. for research by MNCs or any other accessor. The subject of license must be under of protection by some kind of IPR regimes.

License rights

The recipient after developing the commercializable product may give license rights to the provider country, community or individual at minimal cost for manufacturing the developed product.

Contract fees

Contracts are legally binding agreements between two or more parties containing obligations that are to be fulfilled by all parties. It may be of fixed time limit or its duration may depend on the time to be consumed. The provider party may ask contract fees as the precondition to sign a know-how or confidentiality contract with the other party.

Scholarships

The accessor may introduce scholarship schemes to support the exceptionally bright younger generation in pursuing their academic career. It is a monetary benefit sharing mechanism intended to gain acceptance with the local community and convincing them of the sincerity of the accessor and his good intentions.

Grants

Small grants are normally awarded to the communities or educational institutions by the accessor for supporting religious, ethnic or other activities. The grant may be for road repair, construction of religious building or for supporting co-operatives etc.

Example : Using Diversity

apprenticeship

Award

Awards are instituted to felicitate and socially recognise individuals who have contributed to the cause of biological diversity conservation and promotion.

 

Apprentice grants

The locals may be given apprentice grants to work on the projects of the accessor to learn the technology and help in capacity building.

 

Trust Fund

Trust funds are fund set up to provide revolving funds or expandable resources to local communities for local conservation, employment generation and also to enable local communities to obtain independent legal advice before entering into a contractual agreements. These may be set up by using the up front or advance payments received by the communities for allowing access to bio-resource and bio-knowledge in their domain.

Education funds

Funds set up to support educational expenses for the children of the communities in exchange for allowing access. The funds may be used for promoting education that may help the individuals to learn about the possibilities of value addition to the biological material being exchanged by them.

 

Venture promotion fund

These are funds created to facilitate the scaling and spawning up of the innovations in the source country. The fund is expected to reduce the risk of setting up green enterprise by providing low risk financial support to the innovator and also linking the golden triangle of innovator, investor and the entrepreneurs. The VPF may be set up with grants and contributions from the accessor of biological diversity and associated knowledge system.

 

Donations

Donation to organisations involved in biological conservation or in the area of access by the recipient of the biological material is also a kind of benefit sharing tool. The accessor in this manner assures that a part of his earning goes back to source of raw material.

 

Subsidies

The accessor may subsidise the commercialised product developed from the provider material in the provider country.

 

Tax exemptions

The income generated by sharing the bio- knowledge and bio-resource may be exempted from income tax. Similarly, donations and subsidies provided by the recipient should also be allowed tax exemption to encourage such sharing.

 

depriciation

excise releief

sales tax relief

125 per cent benefir for r and d

Non monetary

Honour

The benefit sharing tools of non-material kinds may be used with material incentives as well as without them. Honour of individuals and communities for green practices,

and conservation efforts will act as an incentive for others to act similarly.

 

 

 

 

Recognition

The Acknowledgement of the contribution made by the people in their research effort by the researchers is a nonmaterial mode of benefit sharing. The recognition of these peoples effort in keeping the old traditional knowledge alive might also trigger the young generation in learning the traditions and keep the knowledge alive and safe from eroding.

 

Co-author

The researchers of the collaborating institute from the provider countries should be made co-authors while writing academic papers if they have also worked on the same project. The absence of such form of benefit sharing has been the reason for sharp North-South divide and vitiation of the relations amongst the academicians and governments of these countries.

 

Respecting

The need for respecting cultural and traditional ethos of the people of provider nations and the local communities while accessing their resources helps in improving the exchange.

Training

Involvement of local populations in the field activities of the accessor and providing them basic training as para taxonomist helps in building capacity of the host nation. The other focus group for training may be of the scientist, taxanomist and other experts of the host countries by exposing them to the latest technology in the field.

Performance certificate

Conservationist, exceptional innovators and practitioners may be awarded performance certificate for outstanding activities.

Public felicitation

naming of roads or building

dedication

memorials

commeorative tsamps

Non material-Collective

Technology transfer

Most of the provider nations are provider because they do not have the technology to add value to their resource. It is important for these nations to use technology transfer as tools for upgrading their own facilities for a smooth conversion from a raw material provider to finished good supplier. Technology transfer agreements along with advance payments can take care of the immediate and the future needs making it as one of the most important benefit-sharing tool.

 

Infrastructure development

The provider nation can negotiate with the accessor to analyse the raw material in its own country thus helping them in its infrastructure development.

 

Indigenous people /Community biodiversity Network

The indigenous communities have lot to learn from each other and that can be achieved by creating a network of such communities. The Indigenous People Biodiversity Network in Asia, America and SRISTI and Honey Bee Network are some models of benefit sharing where the aim is to share the knowledge of the farmers with one another and acknowledge the contribution of each farmer while doing it.

 

Local language dissemination of research.

Dissemination of the result and other research work of the accessor with the provider in local language is a simplistic but very effective benefit sharing model. Distribution of research intent in local language would enhance local understanding of scientific approaches to understanding their resources. The younger generation would take this as an initiative to conserve and understand the legacy of the resource and knowledge associated with it.

 

 

Equipment transfer

The transfer of equipment’s to the provider nation or collaborating institution is also one of the modes of benefit sharing normally resorted to high in high technology research projects such as pharmaceutical or drug development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Participation in inventory, collection, survey

The involvement of the locals in inventory, collection and survey of the wild for various species help to allay their fear of foreigners robbing them of their diversity and also make them more involved in the research project. Also benefit sharing negotiations not only remove apprehension of communities, empowers them to take initiative in sharing resources and knowledge related to resources with outside collaborators

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pedagogy text books

polci reforms

empowerment fo local insitutions

training of community leaders

knowledge network

multi mdeia nodes

local language virtual as well as textual data bases

virtual market place for prodcut development, pronmotion, resource mobilisation

exhibition suport

media support

public interest advertising,

desgning

insurance

guarntee fund

risk funds

debt for nature swaps

joint implementation

rehabilitation of sacred groves and aquatic sites sand other ciommunity institutions

Domestic

Agreement Focus