Washington University School of Law presents “Biodiversity, Biotechnology, & the Protection of Traditional Knowledge” April 4-6

The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the Washington University School of Law will present a conference on “Biodiversity, Biotechnology, & the Protection of Traditional Knowledge,” April 4-6 in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

The event will gather leading biological scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, national and international government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and indigenous communities, as well as representatives from private practice and the private business sector to discuss the problem of worldwide biodiversity loss; the impact of agricultural and plant biotechnology on biodiversity loss and the environment generally; and the emerging recognition of the need to protect traditional medicinal and agricultural knowledge through intellectual property and related contractual mechanisms as a means of combating biodiversity loss.

Charles R. McManis, the Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law and the faculty coordinator for this event, will open the conference.

Featured speakers include Roger Beachy, Ph.D., president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Peter Raven, Ph.D., the Englemann Professor of Botany at Washington University and the director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Gurdev S. Khush, Ph.D., plant breeder and geneticist at the International Rice Research Institute, Adrian Otten, Ph.D., director of the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization, and Nuno Pires de Carvalho, Ph.D., head of the Genetic Resources, Biotechnology and Associated Traditional Knowledge Section of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Papers will also be presented during the four conference sessions:

• Biodiversity: What are We Losing and Why — and What is to be Done?

• Biotechnology: Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem?

• Traditional Knowledge: What is it and how (if at all) is it to be Protected?

• Ethnobotany and Bioprospecting — Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

This conference is co-sponsored by the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies, the Washington University Department of Biology, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

For detailed conference information and a full agenda visit http://law.wustl.edu/centeris/upcomingevents/biodivsp02.html or call Linda McClain at 935-7988.