A human rights-based approach to climate change? Insights from the regulation of intangible cultural heritage

Intangible biocultural heritage (IBH) is made up of three groups of intangible biocultural resources (IBRs), namely, biological resources (BR), traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs). Historically, institutions based in industrialized countries have systematically misappropriated the IBH belonging to communities in developing countries by means of claiming Intellectual Property Rights over products derived. Since the 1960s, developing countries have unsuccessfully endeavored to reach international agreements suitable for protecting IBRs. After the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) came into effect in 1995, those countries have been obliged to grant legal protection to intellectual products derived from IBRs, even if those products resulted from acts of misappropriation. In response to this challenge, developing countries came together to negotiate international regimes to protect the different categories of IBRs at the Conference to the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-CBD), before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as well as at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Their proposals, however, are rooted in the anachronistic intellectual property paradigm, ill-suited with respect to providing adequate tools to protect those resources. The negotiators representing the interests of developing countries have not realized yet that they should not treat IBRs in the same fashion as typical intellectual products originating from Western countries, provided IBRs are categorically distinct, featuring three particular dimensions human, environmental and cultural not present in intellectual property as traditionally understood, in addition to the traditional intangible intellectual element. With the end of safeguarding the multiple dimension of IBH, the present work proposes an ideal sustainable development framework based upon the essential elements that any international regime devoted to protect IBH should embrace. The application of the sustainable development framework reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the most relevant proposals of international regimes currently under construction on the international level. Furthermore, it identifies the advantages and disadvantages of legal mechanisms based on property rights, quasi property rights, liability rules, and pliability rules. Finally, the application of this sustainable development framework outlines a concrete legal and institutional arrangement, capable of simultaneously (i) protecting IBRs against acts of misappropriation, (ii) fostering the wider and facilitated use of IBRs for productive purposes, (iii) generating economic resources in favor of the conservation/restoration of natural ecosystems and the improvement of the quality of life of local communities, (iv) as well as safeguarding certain core cultural values of traditional communities.