| The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs Agreement) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have different jurisdictional spheres yet both deal with issues that are respectively important to industrialized countries of the North and the developing countries in the South. The different focus of these international instruments is both ideological and cultural and therefore presents some challenges to any attempt to harmonize or reconcile them. The challenge is made more difficult because of the concept of globalization supported by the North but which developing countries view with skepticism due to its likelihood to eclipse their cultures and traditional practices. Despite the increased dependence on the industrialized countries for economic, political and military aid, most developing countries oppose this new concept of economic exploitation.; The international law concept of the commons (also known as the common heritage of humankind), and its arbitrary extension to plant genetic resources (PGRs) occurring within states and the associated traditional knowledge, has opened up new issues for debate with respect to property constructs. A review of the history of this concept confirms that there is no legal support for this unwarranted extension of the commons concept to PGRs and associated traditional knowledge.; The discussions in this thesis can be categorized into three main but inter-related issues. First, the thesis questions the common heritage taxonomy and examines its unwarranted extension to PGRs found within the frontiers of nation states, and their associated traditional knowledge. Second, it reviews the institutional divide in the commons argument, and questions the rationale for the proposed harmonization agenda of paragraph 19 of Doha Declaration. Third, it analyses the different strengths and weaknesses of the key parties in this controversy---the biotechnology-rich countries of the North and the biodiversity-rich countries in the South---to determine whether the latter, otherwise known as developing countries, have the necessary structural powers to successfully negotiate changes to correct this one-sided commons classification.; The thesis uses international political economy theory to examine the above issues, including the debate concerning the proprietary status of plant genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Its analysis is from an interdisciplinary perspective, and in the process makes references to law, sociology and commerce/economic literatures. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
