In its first part, this chapter argues that the notion of knowledge of indigenous peoples and black or Afro-Colombian communities, as well as its separate protection, was imposed on the basis of the binding of this knowledge, its innovations and traditional practices, to another emerging notion-that of biological diversity and its application in processes of biotechnology. Thus, the protection of this knowledge is neither a real nor a genuine aspiration of indigenous and traditional communities. The imposed model acknowledges the contribution given by non-western cultures to the conservation and preservation of biodiversity, but relates it to questions about establishing the ownership of that knowledge and, therefore, to the construction of the legitimacy of its property.

In the second place, searching for multiple answers, the chapter concentrates on the case of Colombia, where some indigenous peoples and traditional communities have opposed the hegemonic demand to codify knowledge and have presented alternatives, although there are minority sectors that want to obtain benefits from such codification. However, the global nature of the response to the hegemonic demand is underscored, since the positions of Colombian indigenous and traditional peoples are not isolated, but part of a current of American, Asian, and African ethnic groups. Working in some cases in concert with other actors, such as environmental and human rights NGOs, these groups aim to construct a protective notion of knowledge generated in social and cultural contexts other than the hegemonic.

The third part of the chapter shows the possibilities for the construction of an emancipatory politics of protection of traditional knowledge, and the difficulties that arise when the question concerns the alignment of such different matters, originating from such distinct orbits, in regulations that are based on unidirectional presuppositions.