Akabogu, Emeka. 2002. "Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Integrity of the Commons and Emerging Regimes of Intellectual Property Rights in a Globalising World." Presented at "The Commons in an Age of Globalisation," the Ninth Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, June 17-21, 2002.

Abstract

From the Introduction:

"The human factor overwhelms the firmament of everyday processes. It is central to driving procedures and routines and without it, stagnance rules. Development of human capital, as a resource factor within the scheme of everyday activity, is therefore fundamental. In this content, the manner of development of the human resource touches on the quality of human resources available in various social contents.

"Knowledge systems from the very narrow perspective from which I come, simply imply methods of intellectual and behavioural development. It is the method that defines the end. Over the ages, man has inhabited and exploited the earth as much as he possibly can. He has dominated his environment and more often than not, successfully lived the kind of life that he desired. Generations of humanity have continued in the same trail, each effecting methods handed down by fathers and those before them. But human and social development has always been contextualised. Each community of people have had methods original to them, primed by generational repetition, and reinforced by functional application. These methods have been passed on by various means, and in many cases have become institutional behavioural paragrhins. They often define the course of societal behaviour and pattern, either seasonally on through a time continuum. More than all, most communities owe their very existence to these methods. The idea of commonage for such communities, is interlocked with methods such as these.

"It is against this background that the new world order projects itself. An order in which the pace of development has been phenomenal, and the ways of old abandoned like stale wine. This may be logically rationalized, because the human spirit is restless in pursuit of progress, and change is the greatest inevitable. But then, the question: at what expense? It has never made sense to throw away the baby with the bathwater, and it cannot start now. Schemes for the co-existence of methods therefore are of utmost importance, and ought be resolutely pronounced. Commonalty is promoted by acknowledging to each, what it is due. These are fundamentals to which we must strive; this is the challenge we face."