Submission to the Eight Meeting of the CBD Working group on Access and benefit-sharing

This submission to the eighth meeting of the CBD Working group on Access and benefit-sharing is based on research on customary laws and practices related to traditional knowledge and genetic resources and their implications for access and benefit-sharing , which began in January 2005. It entailed participatory studies with indigenous and local communities in areas of important biological diversity. It focused on both medicinal plants and agro-biodiversity and related traditional knowledge in different ecosystems (mountain, dryland, semi-arid savannah and coastal forests). The project involved different ethnic communities ranging from quite traditional to more mixed/integrated: Mijikenda and Maasai, Kenya; Quechua, Andes, Peru; Kuna and Embera-Wounaan, Panama; Lepchas and Limbus, E. Himalayas, India; Yanadi Tribals, Andhra Pradesh, India; indigenous Adhivasi, Chattisgarh, India; and Zhuang and Yao farmers, Guangxi, S.W. China.