Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

There is increasing recognition that some of the most important assets of a community, company or country are not only physical capital but also intellectual capital. Creativity and innovation are essential for increasing this intellectual capital. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have traditionally been used as a means of encouraging such creativity and innovation. It is essential, however, from a sustainable development perspective that IPRs balance the welfare of the innovator and creator, whose efforts deserve compensation, and the welfare of society at large, which would benefit from having unlimited access to the innovation or creation.

UNEP-ETB's work on IPRs is focused at the intersection between intellectual property regimes and the environment. UNEP-ETB has supported the development of a paper entitled, The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Preserving the Spirit of Innovation, Experimentation, and the Conservation Ethic at the Grassroots Level. This paper affirms that IPRs can act as an incentive for preserving the spirit of innovation and the conservation ethic at the grassroots. However, in order to better serve these goals, the paper recommends that conventional intellectual property law address traditions of knowledge sharing for knowledge-rich but economically poor individuals and communities.

For further information on these and other related activities, please contact Benjamin Simmons at benjamin.simmons@unep.ch.