ABSTRACT
The San of Southern Africa, 1 well known as one of the world’s ‘first peoples’, have over the past centuries been decimated to the point of virtual extinction. Those who survived successive invasions of their traditional lands were evicted or otherwise deprived of control of their natural resources, and were forced to exist in subservience alongside dominant pastoralists and colonial landowners. Within the past decade, the San have formed their own networking and umbrella organization, known as Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), in order to articulate and protect their rights and interests. Apart from the right to land and resources, the value of traditional knowledge systems, and the need to protect the rights to such knowledge, have become increasingly important. This chapter examines the controversial case of the patenting of an extract of the Hoodia succulent, which is traditionally used by the San as a thirst and appetite suppressant. Issues of intellectual property, prior informed consent and benefit sharing in the appropriation of indigenous knowledge are raised, and selected aspects of the benefit sharing agreement concluded on 24 March 2003 are discussed in the light of the general principles underlying the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD 1992).
