Traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, and intellectual property law in the Asia-Pacific region

The debate about traditional knowledge is conducted by a very diverse group of protagonists. Involved are intellectual property lawyers, environmental law experts, government representatives and representatives of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), geographers, biologists, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, experts in public health administration and in agricultural development, archaeologists, artists and local and indigenous communities. Depending on whom one listens to, one gets a very different impression of the scope and content of terms such as ‘tradition’ and ‘knowledge’. The most wide ranging definitions of traditional knowledge use holistic concepts of knowledge and knowledge transmission and they encompass everything from artistic, literary and oral cultural expressions to signs and symbols to traditional medicines, plants, agricultural knowledge and knowledge about biodiversity and the environment.