What traditional knowledge is facing when it tries to protect it

Abstract

The neglected and underutilized species (NUS) are part of the bio-cultural patrimony. Conservation, utilization, development and protection of the NUS are linked and depend, t ightly, of the use, generation and extension of the traditional knowledge (TK). In the transit to the knowledge society is necessary to situate and to understand the role that plays the TK in joint with other types of knowledge. This article sets that the acknowledgment and the valoration of the TK is indispensable for that the Latin American societies of knowledge are constituted to themself up as plural societies of knowledge. In particular it require understand the role of the TK in the innovation process and to stipulate the requirements for his adequate protection of its intellectual property rights, not only from the cultural point of view, but also from the economic and juridical perspectives. The public policies for the protection of the TK must be designed by an approach that integrates the mentioned points of views.