ABSTRACT
This aim of this chapter is to answer the question of how to give substance and meaning to the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress (REBSP) as a human right by using a dual approach: through industrialized and technological knowledge and through non-Western, local knowledge linked to the identity, traditions and cultural heritage of local (indigenous) people. From this dual approach, the REBSP can be seen from an individual perspective: knowledge as property owned by individuals, companies and protected by patent law. The other perspective is a collective one: science and knowledge as manifestations of the cultural identity of a group. Human rights law must facilitate this dual approach and develop it further through cross-fertilization and complementarity of the two knowledge and science concepts, for example, in matters of food, health and culture.
