The Sustainable Use of Australia's Biodiversity: Transfer of Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property

Australia's capacity to gain benefits from its biological resources depends on the design of the patent system and various groups trusting that system. The proposal aims to (a) see if ways can be found to encourage Australia s indigenous groups to share their knowledge of Australia s biodiversity, especially in ways that promote long term trust in the process of knowledge diffusion; (b) examine the impact of the international patent system upon Australia's ability to exploit its native and natural biological materials and resources; and (c) analyze the policy agenda of the biologically diverse rich countries and relate this to Australia s interests.