Across the Great Divide: A case study of complementarity and conflict between customary law and TK protection legislation in Peru

Abstract

Indigenous peoples and local communities have developed an expansive body of traditional knowledge which plays a vital role in securing their cultural, spiritual, social, economic and environmental wellbeing. Protected, enhanced and transmitted over centuries, traditional knowledge forms part of and at the same time regulates and controls indigenous and local community knowledge systems as they serve present needs and respond to new challenges and opportunities.