Doing the Right Thing with Traditional Knowledge in International Law: Lessons for the Climate Regime

This paper investigates the regulatory questions associated with the treatment of traditional knowledge in international law, providing a novel conceptualization of this complex subject matter, which lies at the intersection of environmental, human rights and intellectual property law. More specifically, the paper analyses how existing international instruments address the matter of traditional knowledge, systematically comparing the regulatory approaches they adopt, highlighting areas of overlap and potential synergies between them, as well as remaining gaps. This exercise is carried out with the objective of gauging the implications of extant international law for the incipient debate on traditional knowledge in the climate regime. While this debate has just began, this paper reflects on the specific regulatory questions arising in relation to traditional knowledge in the climate regime, and on how they may be addressed in light of extant international law and practice.