Protection for Māori rights over native plant species could be boosted by a new treaty covering intellectual property, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge,
The treaty passed last month in Geneva by the United Nations Word Intellectual Property Organisation is the first WIPO treaty to include provisions specifically for Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities.
David Jefferson from the University of Canterbury has spent the past year researching the Plant Variety Rights Act and other legal frameworks relating to taonga species, including visiting iwi and marae-affiliated plant nurseries around Aotearoa.
He says the new treaty is in line with what the Waitangi Tribunal found in its report on the Wai 262 flora and fauna claim.
“It hasn’t entered into force yet, it’s quite new, but when it does I suspect that we will see a reform to the Patents Act, that will in some ways repsond to a lot of the recommendations that the Waitangi Tribunal made,’ Dr Jefferson says.
Work on protecting Māori taonga species started by the previous Government seem to have been paused by the coalition.
