Fair and Equitable Participation? : A case study of access and benefit sharing processes in India and Samoa

Sammanfattning: The third main objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity aims to guarantee that the process of using traditional knowledge in research and development of new products is fair and equitable. The framework put in place for implementing this third objective, access and benefit sharing, is supposed to enable and ensure the participation of traditional knowledge holders. Using a qualitative study to examine two cases of access and benefit sharing, the TBGRI-Kani case and the Samoan-Mamala case, this thesis seeks to develop an understanding of how power structures affect these processes. Drawing on theories of participation, deliberation and social dominance the findings show that access and benefit sharing runs the risk of being an empty space controlled by the strongest actor, which in most cases are the receivers of traditional knowledge. Rather than celebrating the mere inclusion of traditional knowledge holders in the access and benefit sharing process, attention should be given to the hierarchies within the process as such.