of a party that improves a plant variety, sui generis community intellectual rights, trademarks and farmers’ rights. But legal channels may not be the most appropriate way of protecting the knowledge about their habitat that ethnic communities have accumulated over centuries, since these are the result of a social construct. The system of patents invites claims on the indigenous and community innovations of developing countries, thereby making them vulnerable to formal representation and patenting by others. To claim, use and defend patents is easier for private industry than for institutes and innovative communities.

The above creates a situation in which the knowledge of traditional communities is increasingly being used for commercial purposes in such sectors as pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Technological developments based on this knowledge have produced a marked increase in the supply of crops of food products and new products related to health, among other uses. These developments were produced without the generators and owners receiving any benefits from their property (Santilli, 2002; Lima and Bensunsan, 2003). The idea of protecting this knowledge is gaining ground. However, many proposals made to protect traditional knowledge have failed. Indeed, two institutional and cultural systems clash in the exchange of traditional ethnic knowledge. One is the system of commercial exchange of knowledge in which privately owned (tangible and intangible property) institutions are created and maintained within a legal framework. This system has relatively transparent information mechanisms and operates at a global level. The other is the system of local community knowledge in which ownership of the knowledge is undefined or collective.

In the last two decades, transnational corporations, academic institutions and independent research laboratories have patented indigenous knowledge or have reached agreements with ethnic groups. Various normative frameworks have been suggested. In all of these, there are compensations for the group that include the construction of health or education centers, or the preparation of brochures to educate the public about these practices and their origin. Occasionally, these contracts provide for the group to have a right to share in the benefits of products derived from their knowhow, but these payments have not actually been disbursed in any known case (Zerda-Sarmiento and Forero Pineda, 2002).

The proposals put forward by authors and NGOs have tended mostly to recognize collective intellectual property rights. Some include the idea of creating an international fund to collect and redistribute the income derived from indigenous know-how. The creation of a regional forum consisting of representatives of indigenous communities from different countries would be necessary for elaborating a consensus agreement to regulate bioprospecting and the use of indigenous know-how. This agreement could provide for alternative models of framework negotiations and enforcement mechanisms to regulate transfers of traditional knowhow from these communities to transnational corporations, research laboratories and universities. This framework agreement should establish a balance between preservation and the development of systems of community knowledge and its use by science and the market.

Negotiations may be difficult because, despite the existence

istence of cultural hybrids, ethnic groups are not accustomed to thinking in terms of profits or sharing in benefits. A participatory approach to research achieved through the establishment of local research foundations dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and indigenous culture may be one solution. Indigenous groups should participate in the research and documentation of their knowledge, history and oral culture (idem.).

Another of the priorities would be higher education and scientific research programs based on traditional knowhow and which offer training and research opportunities to members of their own communities, which would ensure knowledge sharing. Support is also needed in the international debate in national and international forums on the question of protection of the traditional knowledge of genetic resources (Bayão and Bensunsan, 2003).

4.3.8 Promoting the use of models that guarantee food sovereignty and stem or reverse the rural exodus
The strengthening of organizational know-how through AKST systems is proposed so that small-scale producers, local fishermen and indigenous peoples would have adequate and equitable access to land, water, genetic resources and other resources necessary for sustainable food production. There is also need for the promotion of family and community agroecological models both in practice and through policies, and for research and development to guarantee food security, especially in those sectors that are most vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition, through sustainable management of local agroecosystems for the production of food intended mainly for local markets.

One option proposed for the sustainable exploitation of water systems is research into methods for conserving and adding value to fish and other fresh products in order to facilitate their distribution. Many Amazonian, Andean or plain populations encounter problems in transporting quality fresh products to local markets. Serious studies are needed on the quality of the diet of foods traditionally consumed and which risk being substituted by the adoption of new food habits. Studies should also be carried out on the diversity of diet, especially in rural areas, since ease of access to processed foods is causing changes in habits and increased consumption of fats and sugars (e.g., bottled soft drinks) (Maluf, 2004; Maluf et al., 2004).

4.3.9 Market study for the establishment of a direct link between local producers and consumers of foodstuffs in peri-urban areas
In order for this proposal to succeed, research is needed into marketing systems to identify local and regional particularities and to provide updated information to farmers and their representatives. A large part of the problems of farmers lies in poor marketing of their products (Dürr, 2002a,b). Similarly, the agenda of AKST systems must include research and dissemination of studies on an integral approach to the productive chain in the territory in question. Business opportunities could therefore be identified for the various segments of the rural space (Santana, 2002).

 Associated with the above option are proposals for the development of know-how for peri-urban agriculture.