WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC) convened for its 50th session from March 3 to 7, 2025.
IGC 50
IGC 50 was chaired by Ms. Erika Watanabe Patriota of Brazil, with Ms. Anna Vuopala of Finland, Ms. Audrey Akweley Yeboawaa Neequaye of Ghana and Ms. Alhanoof AlDebasi of Saudi Arabia serving as Vice-Chairs.
IGC 50 was the second session of the 2024/2025 biennium to address traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs).
Plenary on Agenda Item 5 (“Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expressions”)
The Chair requested Ms. Ann Edillon (the Philippines) to act as “the Friend of the Chair”. Following discussions in the plenary and informals, the Friend of the Chair, with the support of the Chair and the Vice-Chairs, presented a consolidated text of “The Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions: Draft Articles” on March 7, 2025.
However, Member States were unable to reach consensus on the consolidated text and decided not to transmit this text to IGC 51. Instead, the IGC decided to continue working on the basis of documents WIPO/GRTKF/IC/49/4 and WIPO/GRTKF/IC/49/5.
The decisions and all the documents of this session are available online.
Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities’ participation in IGC 50
WIPO facilitated a preparatory meeting of the Indigenous Caucus (referred to as the “Indigenous Consultative Forum”) on March 2, 2025, in a hybrid format. The Indigenous Caucus also held daily meetings during the session and met with the IGC Chair and Member State delegates.
The WIPO Secretariat continued to fund secretarial services (secretariat, interpretation and translation) for Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the session, provided by the Documentation Centre for Indigenous Peoples (Docip).
The WIPO Voluntary Fund continues to face challenges in securing sufficient resources to support the participation of representatives of Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities. Currently, the Voluntary Fund is depleted. Despite four applicants being recommended for funding to attend IGC 50, none could participate due to the lack of resources. As the situation stands, funding participants for IGC 51 may not be possible.
Indigenous panel
The Indigenous panel, which addressed “Traditional Knowledge and Climate Change: Views of Indigenous Peoples” was held on Monday, March 3.
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