3. If — and only if — there is an amicable settlement on this breach of ethics, what win-win solutions
would you personally propose? (4-5 sentences)
There is certainly a win-win solution in this circumstance if there is an amicable settlement on this
breach of ethics. Rather than suing the researchers, the NCIP can guide them, benefiting both the
researchers, NCIP and the tribes. Both parties can benefit from it: the researchers can publish and
achieve their goal without causing any problems, but they must still apologize; the NCIP, on the other
hand, can benefit from it because it will help them and the general public understand more about the
tribes and how to better support them, so they must be grateful to the researchers. And lastly the tribes
can benefit from it because at least they will understand better theirselves as well as their history and
origin, and that will also benefit them because the people around them will understand them better and
appreciate them more.
Community based cooperatives and indigenous self-help organizations are emerging as effective agents
in restoring and preserving IKSPs. Aside from being bearers of IKSPs these groups command the respect
and exercise some degree of leadership over the community. Recognizing this, the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) tapped the Philippine Resource Center for Sustainable Development and Indigenous
Knowledge (PHIRCSDIK) and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to undertake a pilot survey
among the selected major ethnic tribes in the Philippines. This report is the result of that survey
covering the Ifugaos of Cordillera, the Atis of Panay and the Badjaos of Tawi-Tawi. The study was
conducted under the supervision of the Inter-Regional Programme to Support Self-Reliance of
Indigenous and Tribal Communities through Cooperatives and Other Self-Help Organizations (INDISCO).
How do we protect the indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs) of Philippine indigenous
peoples/communities from getting illegally stolen (copyrighted)?
IPs and ICCs have other valuable resources that many people are unaware of, such as their
indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSP), which are a collection of age-old traditional cultural
methods and beliefs in medicine, genetic resources, ecology, art, and language, among other things.
Several communities require access to this material to restore genetic variety in order to cope with
phenomena such as climate change, which is being produced by modern agriculture, development, and
other factors. That is why it is critical to protect Philippine indigenous peoples' and communities'
indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs) from being illegally taken, and the following are
some steps we may take to do so: Recognition of collective land rights; strengthening community
management of natural resources, biodiversity, and knowledge based on customary laws and
institutions, as well as cultural and spiritual values; and people must respect, preserve, and maintain
traditional knowledge, innovations, and practices, as well as encourage the fair and equitable sharing of
benefits from their use.
