Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
COMMUNITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS SENSITIVE
Ethnobotanical Documentation:
A User’s Guide
1
Vel J. Suminguit, Ph.D.
Study Leader
This user’s guide is made possible by the funding support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) through TAG 486 “Institutional Innovation Project” managed by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
1
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Executive Summary
This user’s guide focuses on the mutually enriching experiences and participatory processes of
ethnobotanical documentation, which was carried out among the Subanen in Lakewood,
Zamboanga del Sur and among the Kankanaey in Bakun, Benguet, as a result of the converging
interests between the indigenous communities and the assisting organizations. The user’s guide
is divided in two parts, namely: 1) an overview of ethnobotanical documentation; and, 2) the
stages of ethnobotanical documentation.
The overview provides a brief history of ethnobotany as a scientific discipline and the urgency
to carry out ethnobotanical documentation among indigenous peoples in upland communities
to capture, preserve, and revitalize the rapidly vanishing ethnobotanical knowledge. It also
discusses the need to protect community intellectual property rights because ethnobotanical
knowledge may provide the key to largely untapped but also rapidly vanishing biological
resources. In addition, ethnobotanical knowledge is a cultural heritage, a source of cultural
pride and culturally relevant learning materials for the indigenous communities that needs to be
protected.
The second part of the user’s guide provides conceptual discussions of the different stages and
steps involved in ethnobotanical documentation. The primary objective of the detailed
discussions on the stages and steps of ethnobotanical documentation is to provide guide to
users who would like to document ethnobotanical knowledge using participatory approach and
information technology.
The stages involved in ethnobotanical documentation as carried out in Lakewood and Bakun
are the following:
™
™
™
™
™
™
Consensus building of stakeholders
Technical preparation of documentation team
Data gathering
Alphanumeric and digital data processing
Production of informational materials
Registering finished products with appropriate IPR office
Consensus building of stakeholders takes place during the pre-documentation stage in which all
parties declare their intents and reach consensus. The resulting activity (i.e., ethnobotanical
documentation) can be seen as the result of converging interests of the community and
assisting organizations. The key activities during this stage are institutional partnership building
and community leadership declaring their intents for assistance to document their
ethnobotanical knowledge. It also discusses procedures of seeking “Free and Prior Informed
Consent” as outlined by the NCIP and some creative ways in which the process can be
simplified.
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Technical preparation discusses the need to procure equipment, tools, and supplies in a timely
fashion; creation of database program for systematic storage of data during data gathering and
systematic retrieval during data processing; and the necessary hands-on training for the
documentation team. The objective is to transfer technical skills to the members of the local
documentation team so that, as much as possible, members of the indigenous communities do
the documentation themselves. The non-literate but knowledgeable community elders play the
role of information providers while the younger but literate community members play the role
of documenters.
Data gathering refers to the process of recording the observations, experiences, and knowledge
of the community plant experts as well as the observations of the researchers. This also refers
to the activity of collecting plant specimens identified by the community experts for herbarium
establishment, digital photography, and further documentation of the plant physical attributes.
The key activities involved during data gathering are free listing workshop, plant specimen
collection, and taking digital photographs. Technical considerations for these key activities are
also discussed.
As a reflection of the digital age of Information Revolution, the discussion on data processing
revolves around the process of transforming a collection of (handwritten or tape-recorded) data
into digital form so that it can be manipulated by computer to produce a desired output. In
ethnobotanical documentation, there are two broad categories of data that need to be
processed, namely: 1) alphanumeric data of plant specimens and other related information
collected during data-gathering stage of the project; and, 2) captured images of plant specimens.
Step by step instructions on how to systematically store, retrieve, and process alphanumeric
data and digital editing of captured images are discussed in this section.
Packaging of informational materials is an important stage of the project in which data are
transformed into useful information that can be used by the community and other interested
users. The documentation in Lakewood led to the production of digital photo album to serve
as electronic registry of plant biodiversity in the ancestral domain, digital photo album of rice
germplasm (another electronic registry of in situ germplasm conservation), pictorial book of
plants and five titles of illustrated comics for use of the Subanen literacy program, and the
writing of this user’s guide. This section of the user’s guide discusses the steps of creating digital
photo album and how encryption technology can be used to protect community intellectual
property rights.
The final section of the manual is a discussion on how to register packaged informational
products to secure ownership of the community over their intellectual property.
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.........................................................................................................................II
INTRODUCTION: AN OVERVIEW OF ETHNOBOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION...............1
OBJECTIVE OF THIS USER’S GUIDE .............................................................................................................1
BRIEF BACKGROUND OF ETHNOBOTANY...................................................................................................2
URGENT NEED TO CONDUCT ETHNOBOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION .......................................................2
THE NEED TO PROTECT COMMUNITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS...............................................3
STAGES OF ETHNOBOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION .................................................................5
CONSENSUS BUILDING ................................................................................................................................5
Institutional Partnership Building........................................................................................................6
Preparation for the RTD..................................................................................................................................... 6
Seeking Free and Prior Informed Consent: Procedural Matters .......................................................7
Declaration of Intentions and Signing of MOA................................................................................................ 9
Contents and Signatories of MOA................................................................................................................... 10
TECHNICAL PREPARATION........................................................................................................................12
Procurement of equipment and supplies ............................................................................................12
Database Creation ..............................................................................................................................13
Conventions...................................................................................................................................................... 14
Some Terminology..................................................................................................................................... 14
Creating Database File ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Tables Needed for Ethnobotanical Documentation........................................................................................ 16
Creating Tables................................................................................................................................................. 20
Lookup Tables.................................................................................................................................................. 23
Creating Data Entry Forms .............................................................................................................................. 24
Hands-On Training .............................................................................................................................27
Preparation for the training............................................................................................................................... 28
Provide hand-on training.................................................................................................................................. 29
DATA GATHERING ....................................................................................................................................30
Free Listing Workshop........................................................................................................................31
Preparation for the Free Listing Workshop..................................................................................................... 31
Program of Activities ....................................................................................................................................... 32
Encoding Plant Names..................................................................................................................................... 33
Sorting Plant Names......................................................................................................................................... 34
Unity of Naming............................................................................................................................................... 35
Identification of Uses and Other Plant Attributes ........................................................................................... 36
Specimen Collection............................................................................................................................36
Parts of Plants to Collect .................................................................................................................................. 39
Digital Photography............................................................................................................................39
Technical Considerations for Choosing a Digital Camera ............................................................................. 40
Camera Lens............................................................................................................................................... 40
Image Resolutions ...................................................................................................................................... 41
Image Storage ............................................................................................................................................. 42
Power Supply.............................................................................................................................................. 42
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Computer Interface..................................................................................................................................... 43
Some Tips......................................................................................................................................................... 43
DATA PROCESSING....................................................................................................................................46
Processing Alphanumeric Data..........................................................................................................46
Entering Data.................................................................................................................................................... 47
Quantifying Qualitative Observations............................................................................................................. 48
Querying Database ........................................................................................................................................... 48
Modifying Table............................................................................................................................................... 49
Processing Captured Images..............................................................................................................52
Transferring Captured Images from Digital Camera to PC............................................................................ 52
Making Backup Copies.................................................................................................................................... 53
Choosing and Renaming Captured Images..................................................................................................... 54
Adobe Photoshop Toolbar ............................................................................................................................... 56
Cropping Images .............................................................................................................................................. 57
Resizing Images................................................................................................................................................ 58
Changing Image Background.......................................................................................................................... 58
Using Different Photo as Image Background ................................................................................................. 59
Adjusting Brightness and Contrast .................................................................................................................. 61
PACKAGING OF INFORMATION PRODUCTS ...............................................................................................63
Putting Digital Photos in FlipAlbum..................................................................................................63
Inserting Document in Digital Photo Album .....................................................................................64
Making Album CD-R Ready ...............................................................................................................65
Burning Album into CD-R ..................................................................................................................67
CD-Label .............................................................................................................................................67
PROTECTING COMMUNITY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ..............................................................68
SUMMARY..................................................................................................................................................70
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................................72
APPENDICES..............................................................................................................................................73
APPENDIX A: OPTIONS FOR PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE.............................................73
I. Current Intellectual Property Rights Regime ................................................................................73
A. Copyrights................................................................................................................................................... 73
B. Trademarks ................................................................................................................................................. 74
C. Patents ......................................................................................................................................................... 75
D. Geographical Indications ........................................................................................................................... 75
E. The Plant Variety Protection Act (RA 9168) ............................................................................................ 76
F. Specific Agreements (Bilateral or Multilateral).......................................................................................... 77
II. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND OTHER NATIONAL LAWS .........................................................77
III. VARIATIONS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND BENEFIT SHARING MECHANISMS ..........80
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................83
APPENDIX B: APPLICATION FOR COPYRIGHT .........................................................................................85
APPENDIX C: WAIVER FORM....................................................................................................................87
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
1
PART
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Introduction: An Overview of
Ethnobotanical Documentation
In the field of anthropology, there are many textbooks available on systematic
documentation of largely oral knowledge and tradition (Bernard 1988;Pelto and Pelto
1978;Spradley 1979). Many of the tools used in anthropology, especially in
ethnographic research are adapted in rapid rural development type of researches such
as Farming Systems Research (FSR) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). IIRR
has produced a simplified version of the tools used in ethnographic research and PRA
in its publication entitled “Recording and Using Indigenous Knowledge: A Manual
(IIRR 1996). I do not wish to reinvent and duplicate those textbooks and manuals.
Readers are advised to use them.
This manual will focus on the mutually enriching experiences and participatory
processes of ethnobotanical documentation among the Subanen in Lakewood,
Zamboanga del Sur and among the Kankanaey in Bakun, Benguet. It will provide brief
discussions on some issues and nuances involved in ethnobotanical documentation as
well as step by step procedures of things to be done in the actual documentation. It
will be divided into two general parts.
Part 1: An Overview of Ethnobotanical Documentation
Part 2: Stages of Ethnobotanical Documentation.
Objective of this User’s Guide
The primary objective of this manual is to provide guide to users who would like to
document ethnobotanical knowledge using participatory approach and information
technology. The purpose of the information technology component is to record and
store digital data with the end view of producing digital photo album as a visual
database and a permanent storage. The steps that the users must follow will be
outlined in Part II of this manual.
1
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Brief Background of Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany refers to the field of study that examines the interaction between human
societies and the plant kingdom, especially how indigenous peoples perceive, manage,
and utilize the plants around them (Cotton 1996). Like most fields of studies,
ethnobotany is multidisciplinary in nature, involving not only scientists from the fields
of anthropology, botany, forestry, and other related sciences but also community
members, especially their herbalists, and support organizations.
Cotton (1996) traced the history of ethnobotany to the casual observation of European
travelers and explorers in the 15th century who recorded in their diaries the economic
uses of plants used by indigenous peoples they encountered in their travels. More
systematic documentation was carried out later by anthropologists (Alcorn 1984;Brush
1980;Conklin 1957;Hays 1979), with the primary goal of understanding how
indigenous communities perceived the plants around them and how this perception
influenced their subsistence decisions. Those early anthropological studies have
established that indigenous peoples (IPs) have rich indigenous knowledge about their
immediate surroundings including biologically diverse plants. The elders are usually the
repository of the ethnobotanical knowledge that was traditionally handed down orally
from generation to generation. Unfortunately, its oral nature makes it vulnerable to
being forgotten.
Urgent Need to Conduct Ethnobotanical
Documentation
At present, ethnobotanical documentation is urgently needed because ethnobotanical
knowledge is rapidly vanishing. It is vanishing because of plant extinction and
disappearance of traditional cultures. As plant diversity dwindles due to humaninduced environmental changes, knowledge about plants also declines. The problem
of declining biodiversity is compounded by the problem of cultural alienation. Cultural
alienation is the result of ethnic discrimination, formal education, and exposure to mass
media. Paradoxically, it is the immigrant population that discriminates the indigenous
population. The indigenous population would either withdraw by retreating into the
inaccessible mountains or totally blend in with the immigrant population by hiding
their ethnic identity.
Most Subanen elders would acknowledge that they are no longer the main source of
knowledge and information in their communities. For a long time, they had been
competing with more powerful sources of knowledge – the formal school system and
mass media. More often than not, the contents in the curriculum of the formal school
2
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
system and the contents in mass media are not culturally relevant to the indigenous
communities. While members of the indigenous communities generally have
ambivalent attitudes toward formal school system, they are sending their children to
school to get formal education in the hope that after college, their children can get
employed in the formal sector of the economy. They see formal education as a way
out of extreme poverty in the upland communities.
With the IP children being increasingly drawn into the mainstream society, there is
great danger that the oral ethnobotanical knowledge would no longer be passed on to
the next generation and would disappear when the knowledge holders die. The
disappearance of ethnobotanical knowledge would be a great loss not only to the
indigenous communities but also to humanity. Ethnobotanical knowledge provides
the key to largely untapped biological resources to solve many problems facing
humanity today.
Results of the ethnobotanical documentation conducted in
Lakewood and Bakun show that the remaining diversity of plant species and
germplasm has promising uses. The identified uses are medicines, human foods,
animal feeds, wine making, organic pesticide, construction materials, hand tools,
furniture, ornaments, firewood, ritual and agroforestry intercrop among others. This
suggests that ethnobotanical knowledge is an important resource for the community
that could be tapped to revitalize agriculture, increase livelihood options, improve
health and raise some sense of cultural pride of the community.
Thus, ethnobotanical documentation can be seen as a way to preserve the oral
ethnobotanical knowledge and a way to make it available for the present and future
generations. Documentation also provides the indigenous community an opportunity
to reflect on the conservation status of biodiversity in their ancestral domain. Hence,
documenting knowledge generates new knowledge. This is also a way to generate
culturally relevant learning materials for the functional literacy programs of the
indigenous community.
The Need to Protect Community
Intellectual Property Rights
Putting into writing an oral knowledge creates another set of problem. It poses the
danger of the community losing their intellectual property rights through piracy and
commercial utilization because once written indigenous knowledge becomes publicly
known. It is common knowledge that researchers would conduct studies about
indigenous people using the knowledgeable members of the community as key
informants. After completing the studies, the results are usually published journals or
books with the researchers as authors. In other words, the authors become the owner
of the ideas contained in the publication. The original owners of the ideas, the elders
3
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
and key informants that represented the indigenous community become
disenfranchised in the process. This academic error should be corrected. In the
Lakewood and Bakun ethnobotanical documentation, protecting community
intellectual property rights was top of the agenda. How this was done will be discussed
in the appropriate sections of this manual.
4
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Stages of Ethnobotanical
Documentation
2
PART
Ethnobotanical documentation, as carried out in Lakewood and Bakun, has six
overlapping stages. These stages are:
™
™
™
™
™
™
Consensus building of stakeholders
Technical preparation of documentation team
Data gathering
Alphanumeric and digital data processing
Production of informational materials
Registering finished products with appropriate IPR office
The stages reflect the participatory approaches and modern state-of the art information
technology used during the conduct of ethnobotanical documentation in Lakewood
and Bakun. Participatory approach and information technology have come to an age
to be useful in ethnobotanical documentation. With falling prices, increasing
performance and miniaturization of microprocessors, it is now possible to bring
notebook computer, projector, digital camera, flash disc and Global Positioning System
in the field – gadgets that were not available to average field researchers 25 years ago.
Consensus Building
covers a broad range of activities during the pre-documentation
stage. Its main purpose is to bring relevant stakeholders (i.e., formal institutions and
representative community leaders of the study area) together for the joint activity. The
group (be it an external organization or community organization) that initiates the
activity takes the leadership role of coordination, facilitation, preparation of concept
paper and program of activities, and the provision of the necessary secretariat services.
Consensus building
5
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
The key activities during this stage are:
™ Institutional partnership building
™ Seeking Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC)
Institutional Partnership Building
A key component of consensus building is institutional partnership building. It includes
identification of existing and potential institutional partners that could help carry out
the joint activity. The main purpose of partnering with other institutions is to pool
limited technical and financial resources together for the initial activity. Involving
government institutions during the early stage of the activity will offer the possibility of
them implementing key findings and recommendations of the study. The usual
institutions or organizations that could be involved in ethnobotanical documentation
are those with mandates to manage the environment and work with the rural
communities especially the indigenous communities. These institutions are the NCIP,
DAR, DENR, DA, LGU, local academic institutions, people’s organization, and local,
national, and international NGOs working in the study area.
These institutional partners are initially brought in together to a “Round Table
Discussion” for them to appreciate the magnitude of the problem of losing
ethnobotanical knowledge and biodiversity and the need for concerted action. It helps
if a technical person and a community representative share the experience of
ethnobotanical documentation in the RTD to stimulate interest and generate
commitment from prospective partners.
Preparation for the RTD
The following is a list of things to do before the actual Round Table Discussion. They
can be prepared in any order.
1. Identify and invite resource persons
™ Someone with expertise and experience in ethnobotanical documentation
™ Someone with expertise in community intellectual property rights
™ Someone from NCIP to discuss the procedure and how to fast track the
process of seeking Free and Prior Informed Consent
2. Invitation – invite existing and prospective partners to a Round Table
Discussion. Initially this can be done verbally in person and/or phone calls.
6
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Follow up the verbal invitation with formal invitation letter. Formal invitation
letter is necessary, especially for government employees to legitimize travel,
attendance, and participation in the RTD.
3. Prepare RTD design – in addition to the usual introductory formality, the
RTD should cover:
™ Introduction of purpose
™ Current reality of ethnobotanical knowledge and biodiversity conservation
™ The need and options for protecting community intellectual property
rights
™ Procedure for seeking Free and Prior Informed Consent
™ Action planning – agree on next activities and who will do what
™ Review a draft MOA that would formalize the partnership among
institutions
4. Reproduce enough background papers including draft MOA to be used for
discussion with the participants
5. Reserve a venue, ideally with notebook computer, projector and sound system
Seeking Free and Prior Informed Consent:
Procedural Matters
Before any program or project that involves indigenous cultural communities can
begin, it requires Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) from the community as
defined in Section 3(g) of Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of
1997 (otherwise known as IPRA Law). This includes research activities like
ethnobotanical documentation. The purpose of the provision is to protect the
community from exploitation of outsiders. NCIP Administrative Order No.3, Series
of 2002, provides the revised implementing guidelines of seeking FPIC. Sec 5d of AO
3 copies the provision of IPRA Section 3(g), which defines FPIC as the:
“consensus of all members of the ICC/IPs which is determined in
accordance with their respective customary laws and practices that is
free from any external manipulation, interference and coercion and
obtained after fully disclosing the intent and scope of the
program/project/activity, in a language and process understandable to
7
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
the community. The Free and Prior Informed Consent is given by the
concerned ICCs/IPs upon the signing of the Memorandum of
Agreement containing the conditions/requirements, benefits as well as
penalties of agreeing parties as basis for the consent” (emphasis is
mine).
The phrase “all members” in IPRA law remains undefined in the administrative order.
Because it remains undefined, it is subject to misinterpretation. Does it mean that “all
members” of an affected community, including children and infants who cannot yet
make sound decisions must concur before any activity within the ancestral domain
could take place? Or does it mean the consensus of the majority of the Council of
Elders be considered “consensus of all members of the ICC/IPs” by virtue of their
legitimate representation? The former would be a logistical nightmare considering that
members of indigenous communities live in highly dispersed and inaccessible areas that
often require half to one day of hiking for every one destination in the ancestral
domain. In parliamentary procedure used throughout the world, getting the majority
votes of the legitimate representatives, which numerically means 75% plus one or 50%
plus one, is sufficient.
Part 2 of the administrative order outlines the procedure and requirements for the
issuance of “Certification of Precondition and the Free and Prior Informed Consent.”
Section 7 stipulates that:
“The application for lease, license, permit, agreement and/or
concession to implement or operate programs/projects/activities in
ancestral domains is directly filed by the proponent to the concerned
government agency for compliance of the agency’s applicable regulatory
requirements, who in turn, endorses it to NCIP for certification
precondition as required by the IPRA. The endorsement is to be
addressed to the NCIP Chairperson through the Ancestral Domains
Office. Request for certification precondition coming directly from the
proponents will not be acted upon” (emphasis is mine).
For research related activities, the AO is unclear as to what government agency a
researcher should secure endorsement for certificate of precondition because there is
no single government agency that handles research. Anyhow, from the day the request
is made to the day of actual issuance of “Certificate of Precondition,” the process can
be long-drawn and tedious. According to the NCIP Provincial Director of
Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte, the process could take around seven
months because everything has to be decided by the Commission en banc in Manila. If
so, it would be problematic for short-term research. For example, waiting seven
months to get the “Certificate of Precondition” for a two-day fieldwork would be
ludicrous, counter-productive, and inefficient use of time of the commissioners and
researchers.
8
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
At any rate, Section 35 of AO3 provides “Waiver of Right to FPIC” if the project is
solicited by the ICC/IP through the Council of Elders/Leaders. The role of NCIP in
this context is to validate the purpose of the solicitation to ensure that it has the
approval of the majority of the Council of Elders and to ensure that the proposed
activity is in accordance with the ADSDPP.
Ethnobotanical documentation could use Section 35 of AO3 since it is at the same
time a biodiversity inventory, which is almost always part of natural resource
management component of the ADSDPP.
Declaration of Intentions and Signing of MOA
In Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur, the Council of Elders and the assisting
organizations signed a Declaration of Intention prior to the actual documentation. The
signing, which was witnessed by the NCIP representatives, took place after several
community consultations facilitated by the local NGO (IDF Lakewood Consortium).
The Declaration of Intention, which was later on transformed into a MOA, a legally
binding document, was solemnized by the elders through the performance of ritual,
signifying that consent was provided not only by the Subanen community but also by
the unseen spirits believed to be dwelling in nature. The Declaration of
Intention/MOA has the following key main provisions (Mesaligan Pesalabuhan
Subanen 2004):
1. Ownership of documented ethnobotanical knowledge remains with and belongs to
the Subanen community. This provision is intended to protect community
intellectual property rights.
2. No biological specimens should leave the community without Free and Prior
Informed Consent. This provision is intended to prevent biopiracy.
3. Future commercial utilization of ethnobotanical knowledge, if any, would require
FPIC. This provision is intended to ensure that whatever economic benefits
that may be derived from the documentation should lead to the enhancement
of the social well-being of the Subanen community.
4. Assisting organizations must observe customary laws in the conduct of
documentation. A very important component of this provision is the
performance and observance of sacred ritual before entering each specimen
collection site.
When the approach in Lakewood was shared to a multidisciplinary team in the
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the approach was unanimously adopted with
some enhancement for the documentation of the ethnobotanical knowledge of the
9
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Kankanaey in Bakun, Benguet. Invoking Section 35 of AO3, the multidisciplinary
team, consisting of NCIP, BITO, DENR-ERDS, DA-CHARM, BSU-HARDDEC,
UP-BAGUIO, suggested that the Bakun Council of Elders through the Bakun
Indigenous Tribal Organization (BITO) submit a Letter of Intent to the NCIP.
Because the NCIP in CAR is interested in the activity, it took an active leadership role
by coordinating the activity. It formally requested the office heads of those who
attended the RTD to designate them as members of the ethnobotanical documentation
team. The membership of the participating agencies was formalized through a MOA.
In other words, there are two possible approaches of using Section 35 of AO3 in
ethnobotanical documentation:
1. Using Letter of Intent, the leadership of the ICCs/IPs directly solicits
assistance from their trusted assisting organizations with the NCIP
playing a third-party role of validating the authenticity of the solicitation.
2. Using Letter of Intent, the leadership of the ICCs/IPs directly solicits
assistance from the NCIP to form a multidisciplinary team to assist the
community in documenting their ethnobotanical knowledge. The NCIP takes
leadership and coordination roles and directly involved in the documentation.
The second approach works best if the provincial/regional NCIP leadership is
proactive and research oriented. However, if the provincial/regional NCIP leadership
does not consider ethnobotanical documentation a priority, the first approach could be
used with the assisting organization trusted by ICCs/IPs doing the coordination and
facilitation role. Whatever approach is used, the relationship between the ICCs/IPs
and the assisting organizations should be formalized through a duly notarized
Memorandum of Agreement.
Contents and Signatories of MOA
Part 3 of OA3 outlines the contents and signatories of the MOA. Section 23 states that
the MOA shall stipulate among others, the following:
1. The detailed premises of the agreement;
2. All parties involved;
3. Inclusive dates/duration of agreement;
4. The benefits to be derived by the host ICC/IPs indicating the type of benefits,
specific target beneficiaries as to sector and number, the period covered, and
10
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
other pertinent information that could guide the future monitoring and
evaluation of the MOA;
5. Use of all funds to be received by the host ICC/IP communities, ensuring that
a portion of such funds shall be allocated for development projects, social
services and/or infrastructures in accordance with their development
framework;
6. Detailed measures to protect IP rights and value systems;
7. Detailed measures to conserve/protect any affected portion of the ancestral
domain critical for watersheds, mangroves, wildlife sanctuaries, forest cover,
and the like;
8. Responsibilities of the proponent as well as the host IP community;
9. The MOA monitoring and evaluation schemes; and
10. Penalties for non-compliance or violation of the terms and conditions.
Section 24 lists the signatories to the Memorandum of Agreement. The signatories of
the MOA shall be:
1. For the ICC/IP community, all authorized community elders/traditional
leaders identified and recognized by the community
2. For corporations, partnerships or single proprietorship entities, the authorized
officers, representatives, or partners as per Board resolution; and
3. For the NCIP as third party, the Regional Director by authority of the
Commission.
11
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Technical Preparation
After social preparation, technical preparation is the next logical step. Technical
preparation includes procurement of equipment, tools, and supplies; database creation;
and, hands-on training of the documentation team.
Procurement of equipment and supplies
To prevent delays of the documentation, it is important that the necessary equipment,
tools, and supplies are procured in a timely manner. This is especially important if the
funding source is a government agency because procurement has to go through the
tedious bidding process. Equipment and tools can be purchased, rented, or borrowed
depending on availability of the equipment and funding resources. The following is a
list of equipment, tools, and supplies needed for the ethnobotanical documentation
project.
1. Equipment (Hardware and Software)
™
™
™
™
™
™
™
High speed notebook computer capable of graphic intensive work
Projector
Inkjet printer
Photoshop
Microsoft Access
FlipAlbum
SPSS or Minitab
2. Tools – quantity depends on the number of local documentation teams.
™
™
™
™
™
™
™
Long handle pruning shear
Hand pruning shear
Measuring tape
GPS/Altimeter
Digital camera
Tape recorder
Clearing tool (long-bladed knife or machete)
12
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
3. Supplies – purchase supplies that could be used for the training and free listing
workshop.
™
™
™
™
™
™
™
™
Manila paper
Pilot marker
Yellow pad or surveyor's fieldbook if available
3x5-inch index cards
Ball pens and pencils
Masking tape
Batteries
Plastic bag, tying straw, and rope
Database Creation
In conventional research, database creation is part of data processing – a distinct stage
after data collection. In today’s age of information technology in which portable
computer has become an indispensable research tool, it is better to design the database
during the technical preparation stage for systematic storage of data during data
gathering stage and systematic retrieval of data during processing stage.
It is very tempting to use a spreadsheet program for data storage because it is very easy
to use. For example, after loading Microsoft Excel into your computer memory, it
immediately gives you a blank spreadsheet that is ready to be used to enter data without
special preparation. Statistical programs like SPSS and Minitab also give you
spreadsheet-like data entry form. However, spreadsheet data entry is prone to human
error because it accepts all sorts of data without restriction. A database program is
therefore a better choice for data preparation. Database programs have data entry
validation rules that minimize human entry errors. For example if you enter a plant
name in a number field type, it is rejected because a number field type only accepts
numeric data. If you define a range of number that can be entered in a numeric field
(e.g., ages between 20 to 70 years old), entering a number below and above the
specified range is rejected. In addition, it can use a lookup table to make data entry
consistent and less prone to typographical error.
There are many database programs for personal computers available in the market
today. If your computer is using Windows operating system, it is very likely that
Microsoft Access (hereinafter called “Access”) is pre-installed as part of the computer
package. Access, like most sophisticated relational database programs, stores data in
tables. A table is made of rows (called record) and columns (called field) of cells that
you can fill up with alphanumeric data and graphics. You can create many tables, each
containing similar group of data. You can then link (also called relate thus the name
13
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
relational database) different tables together so that you can enter repetitive
information only once to minimize error.
Conventions
Before proceeding with database creation, let me first introduce special typefaces that I
will use when giving step by step instructions. This is to help you distinguish object
names, keys to press, menu commands, and text that you have to type.
Table 1: Typing Conventions
Convention
Arial Italic
Arial Bold
|
ALL CAPS
Some Terminology
Applies to
Glossary terms, example elements,
emphasized words
Commands
Command separator
Filenames and folders, reserved words,
operators, type of queries, titles
Examples
Relational database, field,
record
File | Paste
File | New
D:\PHOTO_EDIT
(folder)
ETHNO.MDB (filename)
I will frequently use the following terms to indicate specific mouse actions.
™ Click means to press the left mouse button while pointing to an object.
™ Double-click means to rapidly press the left mouse button twice while pointing
to an object.
™ Drag means to hold down the left mouse button while moving the mouse.
Depending on the type of object selected, dragging resizes or moves an object.
™ Right-click means to hold down the right mouse button while pointing to an
object. This is often used to display the context sensitive menu.
Creating Database File
To enter data into the database, you first have to create a database file, which will store
objects like tables, forms, queries, reports, pages, macros, and modules. In this manual,
I will walk you through the steps of creating database tables, forms, queries, and
reports. I will exclude the discussion of pages, macros, and modules. They are meant
for advanced users; we can perform our tasks without tinkering with those more
complex functions. In the following tutorial, we will use Windows XP and Microsoft
Access 2003. It is assumed that you are already familiar with Windows and Windowsspecific terminology. For help with Windows, see your Windows documentation.
14
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
To create a database file:
1. Click on Start | All Programs | Microsoft Office |Microsoft Access 2003. The
computer loads Access into its memory.
2. Click on File | New | Blank Database | My Computer | Views | Details to display
the available hard drive, storage capacity, and available free space (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Screen shot of a dialog box for creating database file.
3. Double-click Local Disk (D:) if it is available. If not, double-click on Local Disk
(C:).
15
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
4. Click on Create New Folder icon on the toolbar of the dialog box, and then
type ETHNOBOTANY in the input box.
5. Press OK.
Figure 2: Creating New Folder
6. Change the default database filename from DB1.MDB to ETHNO.MDB, and
then click Create. You now have a database file that can store database objects
like tables, queries, forms, and reports among others.
Tables Needed for Ethnobotanical Documentation
After creating the database file ETHNO.MDB, the next step is to create tables. For the
purpose of ethnobotanical documentation, several tables are needed to store data and
to serve as lookup tables. A lookup table is a table that contains a list of values that can
be used by other tables. For example, in every plant record, there is a need to put the
location from where the specimen was collected. If many specimens were collected in
the same barangay, the name of the barangay has to be typed every time you enter data
of the specimen collected from that barangay. There is high probability that you
introduce variant spelling of the same barangay along the way. So that you will only
16
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
have to type name of the barangay once (hence minimizing error), it is better to put all
location-related data in a lookup table. You need to create lookup tables for location,
plant type, habitat, and plant availability. You also need to create separate tables to store
data of plants and informants. The following are database tables that you need to
create. Please note the italic bold on the table caption. You will use it as table name
later.
Table 2: Field names for location table
Field Name
Field Type
Field Size
Description
Barangay
Text
15
Enter name of barangay
Municipality
Text
15
Enter name of municipality
Province
Text
25
Enter name of the province
Table 3: Field name for plant type table
Field Name
Field Type
Field Size
Description
Plant Type
Text
10
Enter fern, fungus, grass, herb, moss,
palm, shrub, tree, vine, others.
Table 4: Field name for habitat table
Field Name
Field Type
Field Size
Description
Habitat
Text
20
Enter primary forest, secondary forest,
cultivated field, uncultivated field, river
bank, ravine, gully, others.
Table 5: Field name for plant availability
Field Name
Field Type
Field Size
Description
Availability
Text
10
Enter abundant, rare, endangered
17
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Table 6: Table to store key informants data
Field Name
Field Type
Field Size
Description
First name
Text
15
Enter first name of informant
Last name
Text
15
Enter last name of informant
Age
Number
Long
integer
Enter the age of informants
Education
Number
Long
integer
Enter actual number of years of
schooling
Gender
Text
1
Enter M for male and F for female
Ethnicity
Text
15
Enter ethnic identification
Position
Text
15
Enter social position in the community
(e.g., Datu, Timuay, etc.)
Table 7: Main table to store plant data
Field Name
Field Type
Field Size
Description
Local name
Text
20
Enter local name
Specimen#
Number
Long
integer
Enter specimen number recorded
during specimen collection
Photo#
Text
50
Enter photo numbers generated by the
digital camera
Scientific
Text
30
Enter scientific name
Habitat
Lookup
Elevation
Number
Use lookup wizard to define field
Long
Use altimeter or GPS reading
18
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
integer
XCoordinate
Number
Long
integer
Enter GPS X coordinate reading if
available
YCoordinate
Number
Long
integer
Enter GPS Y coordinate reading if
available
Location
Lookup
Use lookup wizard to define field
Plant type
Lookup
Use lookup wizard to define field
Flowers
Text
50
Describe flower shape and color
FloweringM
Text
50
Enter flowering months
Fruit
Text
50
Describe shape and color of fruits
FruitingM
Text
50
Enter fruiting months
Availability
Lookup
Use lookup wizard to define field
Uses
Memo
Enter uses
Special Notes
Memo
Enter notes of observations
Collectors
Memo
Enter names of documentation team
members
CollectionD
Date
Enter collection date
19
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Creating Tables
After having defined the needed tables, you are now ready to create them. Figure 3 is
the main screen for creating tables. It is displayed after creating the ETHNO.MDB
database file. The left pane of Figure 3 lists the database objects (i.e., tables, queries,
forms, reports, pages, macros, and modules). The right pane lists the three options for
creating tables.
Figure 3: Main screen for creating tables
To create table:
1. Make sure that the Tables object on the left pane is selected
2. On the right pane, Double-click Create Table in Design View.
3. The Table Design View is displayed (see Figure 4). Notice that initially the
table is empty. Examine the General tab. You will see many options for
restricting data entry to minimize errors.
4. For your first table, enter the field name, data type, field size, and description
from Table 2.
5. After completing step 4, switch to datasheet view by clicking the View icon on
the left side of the toolbar or by clicking View | Datasheet View.
20
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Figure 4: Table design View
6. Access would display a dialog box with this message: “You must first save the
table. Do you want to save the table now?” Click on Yes.
7. It would then display “Save As, Table Name” dialog box. Type Location in
the input box as your table name, and then click on OK.
8. Another dialog box is displayed with this message “There is no primary key
defined. Although a primary key isn’t required, it’s highly recommended. A
table must have a primary key for you to define a relationship between this
table and other tables in the database. Do you want to create a primary key
now?” Click the No button.
9. Access will display a window with Location: Table on its title bar and Barangay,
Municipality, and Province on the column headings. You can now enter data –
21
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
the name of the barangays, municipality, and province where specimens are to
be collected. After entering data, your table should resemble Figure 5.
10. Click the X button on the top right corner of the Location Table window.
11. Access will ask “Do you want to save changes to the layout of table ‘Location’?”
Click Yes. You are now back to the main screen for creating tables.
Figure 5: Screen shot of location table
To create the other tables:
1. Repeat the steps above from 1 to 9.
2. Once you reach step #7, name the table according to the type of data that it
will contain (look for the italic bold text in the table caption earlier for the
suggested table name, e.g., habitat, plant type, availability, informant, plant data).
3. When you are ready to create the main table (plant data), take note that the field
type of habitat, location, plant type, and availability require the use of lookup
table. Follow the steps below on how to use Lookup Wizard.
4. No need to perform steps # 10-12 for informant and plant type tables. You still
have not data for them.
22
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Lookup Tables
After creating the necessary tables, you need to “relate” or link related tables together.
Database programs that have the capability of relating different tables are called
relational database as opposed to flat database. Microsoft Access is an example of
relational database program.
Using Lookup Wizard is one way of establishing relationship among tables. To use
Lookup Wizard for the Plant Data Table:
1. Click the Data Type definition of Habitat.
2. Click Look up Wizard
Figure 6: Defining field type using lookup wizard
3.
4.
5.
6.
Tick “I want the lookup column to look up the values in a table or query.”
Click Next
Choose Table: Habitat
On the View, tick Tables
7. Click Next
8. Click single arrow (>) button to transfer Habitat from Available Fields to
Selected Fields
9. Click Next
10. Access would ask: “What sort order do you want for your list?” Click arrow
down, select Habitat and then click Next.
23
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
11. Access would ask: “How wide would you like the columns in your lookup
column?” Do not change anything. Click Next
12. Access would ask: “What label would you like for your look up column?”
Leave Habibat
13. Click Finish
14. Access would ask: “The table must be saved before relationship can be
created. Save now? Click Yes.
15. Repeat the above steps for the fieldnames that require look up table.
Creating Data Entry Forms
You can enter data directly to the table or through data entry forms. It is a very good
idea to create a form using the wizard, unless you are an advanced user and know what
you are doing. Access does a very good job of creating a form using the wizard.
To create data entry form:
1. Go back to the main database window (Figure 7).
2. Make sure that the Forms object on the left pane is selected
3. On the right pane, Double-click Create form by using wizard. Form wizard is
displayed.
Figure 7: Main database screen for creating form
24
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
4. Click on the arrow down of the Tables/Queries input box to display the names
of the table that you created earlier.
5. Choose Table: Plant Data
Figure 8: Form Wizard
6. Click double arrow >> to select al the fields.
7. Click Next
8. Select Columnar as your form layout
9. Click Next
10. Select Standard as your style.
11. Click Next
12. Give you form a name (e.g., “Plant Data Collection Form”), and select Modify
The Form’s Design
25
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
13. Select Finish. You should see your form in design mode (see Figure 9).
14. Put your mouse pointer between Form Header and Detail until the mouse
pointer turns into double arrow.
15. Drag Detail down to give enough space for you type the title of the form.
16. Type PLANT DATA ENTRY FORM.
Figure 9: Data entry form in design mode
17. Make necessary adjustments of the field labels and input boxes until you are
satisfied with the layout.
18. Click on the X button of the screen to close the active Window. Access will
ask: “Do you want to save changes to the design of form ‘Plant Data
Collection Form’?
19. Reply Yes.
To create the Key Informant Form, repeat the above procedures. The database is now
ready to use for training, free listing workshop, and data entry after data collection.
26
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Hands-On Training
The documentation team may comprise of two subgroups:
™ Representatives of institutional partners with varying degrees of technical
backgrounds
™ Community members who are information providers, documenters, and
specimen collectors
The members of each subgroup play different roles and different levels of participation
throughout the duration of the project. They may also require different types of
technical training.
If the documentation is going to cover all ancestral domains within a region, the
representatives of the institutional partners would serve as the core documentation
team. The members of the core team usually have college or advanced degrees in
biological and social sciences. They may participate during data gathering as facilitators
and resource persons but they could also provide later on technical services like
scientific identification of plant specimens, data analysis, technical writing, and
production of informational materials.
The community members have high level of participation during the data gathering
stage of the project. As indicated above, the community plant experts provide
information while the younger but literate community members may do the actual field
documentation. If one of the purposes of the specimen collection is to establish a
herbarium, hands on training on specimen collection and documentation is necessary.
It should be done a few days before the actual fieldwork to ensure that new skills are
used immediately. However, if the purpose of specimen collection is for taking digital
photographs, briefing of the specimen collectors on what to collect just before going
into the field would be sufficient.
In the case of Lakewood, the documentation was intended not only to capture oral
knowledge of plant and genetic diversity but also to produce all sorts of learning
materials for the Subanen literacy program. In addition, the assisting organizations
endeavored to transfer technical skills to Subanen members of the documentation
team so that they could do the documentation themselves with the technical people
playing the role of facilitators. Because some plants are not readily accessible by the
younger Subanen, it was decided that specimens would be collected for community
herbarium establishment, pictorial book of plants, digital photo album as permanent
digital storage and illustrated comics reflecting the experience during documentation.
To transfer technical skills, the Lakewood team sent a community worker with
background in forestry to Central Mindanao University for a one-week “training of
27
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
trainer” on biological specimen collection, handling, and preservation for community
herbarium establishment. Upon return to the community, the said person provided
hands-on training to members of the local documentation team not only on specimen
collection and preservation but also on how and what attributes of plants to document.
Because the documentation in Lakewood included rice morphological characterization,
two Subanen were sent to the University of the Philippines Los Banos for short term
training on rice morphological documentation. Upon return to the community, they
established documentation plots for 38 rice varieties. As of this writing, the rice
documentation team already had more than 60 rice varieties that could be planted in
the next cropping season for further detailed morphological documentation.
In the case of Bakun, herbarium establishment was excluded in the activity upon
learning from the Lakewood experience that herbarium establishment is laborintensive, time consuming and requires regular maintenance. Biological specimens
were collected mainly for taking digital photographs and documentation purposes.
Because the members of the Bakun team have high educational attainment, a simple
briefing on specimen collection was sufficient. However, they later expressed the need
for training on processing alphanumeric and digital data because CAR NCIP intends to
conduct ethnobotanical documentation in all ancestral domains within the Cordillera
Administrative Region. A manual on digital photography and digital editing will be
discussed in the data gathering and data processing sections of this user guide.
Preparation for the training
1. Based on the recommendations of community leaders, identify specific sites of
great biodiversity within the ancestral domain to be included in the
documentation.
2. Decide whether one team will document all the sites at different times or form
several teams to document several sites simultaneously. During dry months,
one team documenting different sites one after the other would not be a
serious problem because roads or trails are almost always passable. However
during rainy months, the roads/trails might not be passable due to landslides.
The window of opportunity to collect plant specimens might be narrow.
Having multiple teams might be necessary. Ideally, each specimen collection
team should have the following members:
™ 2 community plant experts who will collect specimens and conduct on-site
specimen identification. (Note: one person tends to forget some plant
names, but two or more would be helpful in remembering names).
™ 1 name tag maker/indexer
28
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
™ 1 documenter
™ 1 Digital photographer – Note: This role can be played by the team leader.
If there are several teams formed to document several sites simultaneously,
it might be costly to have one digital photographer in each team because it
would require additional units of digital camera. The alternative would be
to bring plant specimens to one central location for taking digital
photographs.
™ 1 laborer to carry specimens to a pick up point for transport to a central
location.
™ Dendrologist/botanist to provide on-site scientific name identification. If
dendrologist/botanist is not available, scientific name identification may be
done later using collected specimens or digital photographs. The
dendrologist/botanist could bring GPS or altimeter for altitude reading.
Without GPS or altimeter, topographic map can be used to determine
elevation.
Provide hand-on training
1. For the specimen collection and documentation team, hands-on training might
consist of the following:
™ How and what to document
™ What parts of plant specimens to collect and how to package them for
transport
™ How to preserve biological specimens
™ How to take good digital photographs
™ How to use GPS or altimeter
2. For the representatives of institutional partners, training might be about:
™ Digital photography
™ Digital editing
™ Data analysis
™ Pictorial database creation
29
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Data Gathering
In ethnobotanical documentation, data gathering refers to the process of recording the
observations, experiences, and knowledge of the community plant experts as well as
the observations of the researchers. This also refers to the activity of collecting plant
specimens identified by the community experts for herbarium establishment, digital
photography, and further documentation of the plant physical attributes. Based on
these, there are three key activities2 involved during data gathering, namely:
™ Free listing workshop
™ Plant specimen collection
™ Taking digital photographs
The above key activities are listed separately for the purpose of discussion. However,
during field implementation, it is best if specimen collection and taking digital
photographs are carried out simultaneously right after the free listing workshop. If the
plant experts cannot afford to be away from home for an extended period, free listing
workshop can be done separately and specimen collection and taking of digital
photographs can be scheduled some other time.
Performance of ritual might be considered as one of the activities during the data gathering
stage depending on the customary practices of the community. Among the Subanen in
Lakewood, performance of ritual by a shaman was a requirement before the documentation
team was allowed to go into each specimen collection site. This was to ensure that the spirits
believed to be guarding the area would grant the team permission to conduct the activity.
Without concurrence from the spirit world, the Subanen believe that accidents or other type of
misfortunes could happen to the documentation team. Among the Kankanaey in Bakun, ritual
was not necessary because most of them are already following the Christian religion. The
important point to remember from these two contrasting experiences is that the documentation
team should observe and respect local customary practices.
2
30
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Free Listing Workshop
Generating information from the community plant experts can be done using Free
It is called “free listing” because the informants are asked to freely list
the plants they can think of. Free listing allows the informants to have freedom to use
their naming system without being influenced by the outsider’s frame of reference.
The objectives of free listing are the following:
Listing Workshop.
1. To know what plants are available in the ancestral domain;
2. To establish unity of naming of plants that would provide basis for
identification;
3. To know the uses of plants that could be utilize to increase alternative
livelihood options, improve upland farming, and improve community health
program; and,
4. To know the general conservation status of culturally important and highly
utilized species.
Preparation for the Free Listing Workshop
1. Seek the assistance of the local NGO or people’s organization to identify and
invite around 10 to 15 members of the community who are very
knowledgeable about different plants. This should be done few days earlier
before the actual free listing workshop to give the community workers ample
time to visit and invite the identified plant experts and to confirm their
participation. It is better if each site of great biodiversity has two or three
representatives.
2. As trapped as they are in the quagmire of poverty, the organizer might need to
provide food, lodging, and round trip transportation for the workshop
participants.
3. If the venue of the workshop has electricity, let the sponsoring organization
provide a notebook computer, projector, and printer. Without electricity, the
old-fashioned but reliable manila paper would remain very useful.
4. Print attendance sheets and program of activities.
31
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Program of Activities
Excluding travel, free listing would consume approximately 1.5 days. While specimen
collection and taking of digital photographs could consume a minimum of two days
depending on the richness of biodiversity in the ancestral domain and the distance
from the collection site to a central location. It is desirable to conduct free listing in the
afternoon of the first day to give the facilitators time to organize the list in the evening
for group validation the following day. Table 8 shows a sample program of activities.
Table 8: Sample schedule of activities
Day 1:
AM
12:00-1:00pm
1:00-1:30pm
1:30-2:30pm
2:30-3:00pm
3:00-3:30pm
3:30-5:30pm
5:00-8:00pm
Travel time for community participants
Lunch
Registration
Introductory activities: prayer, expectation setting
introduction of purpose, etc.
Collection of Demographic Data – Collect basic
demographic data of the plant experts. Information that can
be collected includes, but not limited to, names, age, gender,
ethnicity, and position in the community (i.e., tribal leader,
ritualist, hunter, etc.). These can even be collected during
registration if deemed appropriate. These data are needed
for a brief description of them as information providers of
the documented ethnobotanical knowledge.
Break
Free listing – Write on manila paper (or Powerpoint for
computer projection) the instruction: “Please list all the
plants you can think of.” Explain that by plants, we mean
anything that grows on the ground, rocks, and trees in the
forest, fallow areas, ravine, gullies, farms, riverbanks, rice
fields, etc. If computer is available, let each plant expert
develop his/her comprehensive and exhaustive list on a
yellow pad for computer data entry later. If computer is not
available, let each plant expert write each plant name on a
4x8-inch index card (but this requires hundreds of index
cards). If the plant experts are non-literate, let the younger
but literate members of community do the writing or listing.
Encoding the plant names into a database program.
Day 2:
About 4 hrs
About 4 hrs
Sorting and unity of naming
Identification of uses and morphological characteristics
32
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Encoding Plant Names
Immediately after free listing, encode the plant names identified by the community
experts into the database that you created during the technical preparation stage.
Directly encode the data into the database table without using the data entry form
because will only be using one column of the table.
To begin encoding:
1. Select Tables on the left pane and double-click Plant Data on the right pane
(see Figure 10).
2. The blank Plant Data table is displayed.
Figure 10: List of tables
3. Enter the plant names under the Local Name column. For now, leave the
other columns empty.
4. Type the names as they are spelled by the community documenters and in the
order they are written on the yellow pad or index card. Do not edit anything.
Do not worry about duplicates and variation of spelling. The plant experts and
33
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
community members will do the editing during the next session. Complete the
entry of plant names overnight.
5. When you finished data entry, your Plant Data table should look like Figure 11.
You are now ready for the second day session.
Figure 11: Plant data table
Sorting Plant Names
Sorting refers to the process of organizing plant names in alphabetical order to reveal
redundancy and variation of spelling for each plant. The use of computer would be
very handy for this purpose. Without computer, index card can be used for manual
sorting, which could be fun but labor intensive, time consuming, and tedious especially
if names listed by each plant expert exceed 500. For example, if there are 15 plant
experts and each of them lists an average of 500 names, then you would have to sort
7500 index cards. Using computer, sorting would take only a few seconds.
To sort:
1. Click on the column heading Local Name
2. Click on the Sort Ascending icon.
34
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Figure 12: Sorted plant names
Unity of Naming
Unity of naming refers to the process of the community plant experts agreeing on the
common and correct spelling of plant names. This is possible only after seeing the
sorted plant names. Hence, projecting sorted names on a wall screen using computer
and projector is very necessary. In our example in Figure 12, the sorted names
revealed redundancy. There are two entries of “Belya” and variant “Bilya.” There is
also “Bentangol” and “Bintangol”. They could be referring to the same thing. This
kind of thing is hard to detect with manual sorting.
Let the community plant experts and documenters make the correction. Expect lively
discussion among them before they could agree on the common name and spelling of
each plant. Depending on the number of entries in the database, this exercise can
consume an average of four hours. If the plant experts are non-literate, let the literate
members agree on the correct spelling. Once the correct one is identified, delete the
duplicates.
After having sorted and eliminated duplicate names, you should now have a clean
dataset that can be used in the next session.
35
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Identification of Uses and Other Plant Attributes
With the plant names already sorted and corrected, you can now ask the plant experts
to classify plants, identify their natural habitat, flowering and fruiting months,
availability or conservation status, and uses. Other plant attributes like shapes and
colors of flowers and fruits, size, height, texture of woody plants and elevation among
others are better recorded based on actual observation during plant specimen
collection in the field.
Table 9 is an example template that can be used to collect the above information. You
can use your notebook computer to project the table on the wall screen to facilitate
plant classification and identification. Alternately, you can create the matrix on a
manila paper and pre-filled the column “local name” with the corrected list of plant
names. If computer is used, make sure your projection is big enough to be clearly
visible by the workshop participants. A touch-typist computer operator is needed for
this exercise for real-time data entry. Typing is a lot faster than writing manually on the
manila paper.
Table 9: Information that can be provided by plant experts
Local
Name
Bilaw
Bilok
Bilya
Plant
Type
Habitat
Flowering
month
Fruiting
month
Availability or
conservation status
Uses
It is important to emphasize here that Table 9 is used only after having a
comprehensive clean list of plant names. Using it during free listing is avoided because
it would only disrupt the memory recall process of the plant experts, preventing them
from remembering all possible plants found in the ancestral domain.
After getting all the needed information for each plant type, the free listing workshop
can be concluded if specimen collection is not conducted the following day. However,
if the plan is to collect the plant specimens the following day, briefing on what to do in
the field should follow.
Specimen Collection
After having a comprehensive list of plant names, collecting the specimens is the next
major activity. The purpose of specimen collection is to have physical representation
of the plant names. The collected specimens can be used for taking digital
36
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
photographs and/or herbarium establishment. This user’s guide assumes that specimen
collection is intended for taking digital photographs for pictorial database and
production of print learning materials. If the purpose is for herbarium establishment,
the users are advised to refer to the hand out “Collecting and Preserving Specimens”
(Spradley 1979) or any published manuals on specimen collection.
It is preferred that specimen collection is done when most of the plants in the ancestral
domain are flowering or bearing fruits. The community plant experts should know
when most plants bear flowers and fruits.
Before entering the specimen collection site, performance of ritual might be necessary
depending on the precondition of the tribal elders. This should already be known
during the consensus building stage.
It is important that Specimen Collection Form is printed before going into the field to
structure the recording of plant attributes. This makes entering data into the database
easier. Following the form layout in Figure 13, two forms can be printed in one short
bond paper. The Report Wizard of Access can help in designing and filling the form
with the correct plant name. Having the correct plant name pre-printed on the form is
important to prevent the documenter from introducing variant spelling, which could
be laborious to correct during data processing stage. The forms should be arranged
alphabetically according to local names and numbered sequentially to makes it easier
for the documenter to locate the name in the form during field documentation. To
prevent disarranging the forms, it is better to put them in a ring binder.
37
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Figure 13: Specimen collection form
If the specimens are to be transported off site for taking digital photographs or for
herbarium establishment, there is a need to put a number tag on each specimen.
Number the collected specimens sequentially. It is preferred if the initials of the sitio,
barangay, municipality, and province are used as prefix to the numbering system to
distinguish the specimens collected from other sites. If the team expects to collect a
total of more than one hundred but below one thousand specimens, three digit
numbering system is very useful. For example, the first specimen collected from sitio
Duminata, barangay Biswangan, in Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur can have a prefix
of DBLZ and number 001 or DBLZ001. Write this number on a masking tape using a
waterproof pilot marker and tape the label on the petiole or stem of the collected
specimen. If the specimen is wrapped with used newspaper, the label may be written
on the wrapper itself. The same specimen number has to be written in the Specimen
Collection Form.
If the specimens are intended for taking digital photographs on site and to be discarded
later, there is no need to put a number tag on the specimen. However, the
alphanumeric specimen number should be recorded on the Specimen Collection Form.
In our example in Figure 13, the first specimen encountered in sitio Duminata,
Barangay Biswangan is Balaring. Hence, the specimen number of Balaring is DBLZ001.
If digital photographs are taken right in the field, the photo number may follow the
same sequence as the specimen number. In our example, three shots were taken for
Balaring. Thus, the photo numbers are IMG_0001 to IMG_0003.However, if digital
photographs are taken outside the collection site, the photo number may not follow
the specimen number because the specimens might no longer be arranged sequentially
in the container used to transport them. Digital cameras have their own system of
38
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
assigning photo number (more on this later). At any rate, the photo number(s) of the
specimen should be recorded on the Specimen Collection Form.
Before discarding the specimens, other information like elevation, habitat and physical
characteristics of the specimen especially color and shapes of flowers and fruits should
be recorded on the specimen collection form. If an expert on scientific nomenclature
is part of the collection team, on-site scientific name identification is better. The
scientific name should also be recorded on the same form.
Parts of Plants to Collect
The handout of Amoroso (2004) has the following pointers on what to collect.
™ The plant specimen should comprise an adequate samples of all organs
available in all stages of development
™ The supporting branch should be cut so that attached petioles, auxiliary buds
and any stipules are retained. Always try to keep compound leaves intact.
™ Cut woody subjects to demonstrate as much of the branching pattern as
possible. Where possible the stem apex should be retained.
™ Look for different shaped leaves including juvenile foliage or shade leaves.
™ Look for male and female flowers of the same plant including flowers with
long-styled and short-styled forms.
™ Look for male and female of the same plant. Collect each sex under a separate
number.
Digital Photography
Digital photography refers to the process of capturing images in digital format.
Capturing images of plants into digital format is a major data gathering activity during
ethnobotanical documentation. Digital camera is therefore an indispensable datagathering tool.
Just about a decade ago, images of plants would have to be captured using
photographic films or hand sketches. Using photographic film is expensive because of
the need to buy several rolls of film, and pay for processing and printing. This system is
not environmentally friendly because film processing requires batches of chemicals that
39
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
are eventually discarded into the environment. To print the images on paper means
some trees have to be cut to make paper.
The revolution in digital photography eliminates the need for film and chemical
processing. A digital camera captures images using an electronic image sensor. The
image sensor, about the size of a ten-centavo coin, is comprised of a grid containing
millions of photosensitive diodes called photosites, or pixels (short for picture elements).
When the shutter opens briefly, each pixel on the image sensor records the brightness
of the light that falls on it by accumulating an electrical charge. The more light that hits
a pixel, the higher the charge it records. When the shutter closes to end the exposure,
the charge from each pixel is measured and converted by an Analog to Digital Converter
into a digital number. The series of numbers can then be used to reconstruct the image
by setting the color and brightness of matching pixels on the screen or printed page
(Curtin 2003).
In the present decade, digital cameras are increasingly powerful and affordable. Dozens
of features are packed into this small gadget at very reasonable price. New models are
being released every few months. The latest model has 16.6 megapixels. It means it has
16.6 million photosites on its image sensor. Choosing which digital camera to buy and
use for ethnobotanical documentation is therefore confusing because of the hundred
of choices available in the market. This section will discuss some technical
considerations in choosing digital cameras and how to use them in the field to produce
high quality photographs under natural lighting conditions.
Technical Considerations for Choosing a Digital Camera
When buying a digital camera, browse first the internet and look for web sites that
review and rate the quality and performance of different digital cameras. C/net
(http://reviews.cnet.com), Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com),
and PC Magazine (http://www.pcmag.com) are good places to start. Technical
experts working for computer magazines usually conduct the reviews. Their websites
can compare technical specifications of different products by simply putting a tick next
to the product name.
For ethnobotanical documentation, we need a digital camera that has the right lens and
resolutions to handle the images we plan to take, enough memory to store images, long
life batteries, and appropriate camera-computer interface.
Camera Lens
Get a digital camera with lens that is capable of macro focus and optical zoom. Macro
focus refers to the ability to move camera lens very close (up to 2 inches) to the
subject. This is important for taking close-ups of small subjects like pollens, fungi, plant
grains, and plant hairs. Optical zoom is the ability to “zoom in” and “zoom out” of the
subject by changing the focal length and magnification. This is important if you desire
40
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
for clear, crisp, and sharp pictures. Don’t confuse optical zoom with digital zoom.
Digital zoom is the process of enlarging the pixel of the image, which can be done by
computer software.
Image Resolutions
Image resolution refers to the number of pixels in the photograph. High resolution
image means it has more pixels in it. Digital cameras in the market today are usually
categorized according to the million of pixels (Megapixels or MP in short) they are
capable of recording in one shot like 1.3MP, 2.1MP, 3.2MP, 4.0MP, 5.0MP and so on.
Cameras with 1.3 to 2.1 megapixels are no longer sold in the market; they are obsolete!
As of this writing, the lowest resolution available in the market is 3.2MP, which has a
maximum photo dimension of 2048x1600 pixels. As of September 2004, Canon
released its 16.6MP digital camera priced at $11,000, with a maximum photo dimension
of 4992x3328 pixels. The number of pixels in the digital camera is expected to continue
to increase in the coming years. Note that the 4992 refers to the width (or columns of
pixels) and 3328 refers to the height (or rows of pixels) on the image. If you multiply
the 4992x3328 pixels, the product is 16.6MP. In other words, you can express image
resolutions in terms of the total number of pixels (e.g., 16.6MP) or dimension in pixels
(as in 4992x3328 pixels) of the image.
A comfortable setting of a typical 17-inch computer monitor is 1024x768 pixels. This
means that only a portion (or about 1/16th) of the 4992x3328 image can be seen at a
time on a 17-inch monitor. Put another way, the 4992x3328 image can be seen in its
totality without reducing pixel size by welding together 16 pieces of 17-inch monitors.
The main question then is “Do you need a 3.2MP or 16.6MP digital camera?” The
answer is it depends on the intended use of the final photographs. If you want to post
your photos to your website or email to your friends, 640x480-pixel resolution is all
you need because it will not consume much internet bandwidth and makes
transmission over the internet faster. For personal computer viewing, digital photos
with 1024x768 (or 786,432) pixels would be fine since this is the typical setting of most
desktop computers. In other words, 1-megapixel digital cameras can do the job of
capturing images for webpage and desktop computer viewing.
For print, it depends on the desired print size. The required image resolution for a
desired print size can be determined by multiplying the print size with the printer
resolution (expressed in dot per inch or dpi). “To make a reasonable print that comes
close to the quality of a traditionally developed photograph, you need about 150 to 200
pixels per inch of print size” ((Nice and Gurivich Gerald Jay 2005). In the example
below, let us use 200dpi to determine the required resolution.
41
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Table 10: Print size and pixels in the image
Print Size
(inches)
3.5 x 5
5x7
8 x 10
17 x 25
Image Storage
Printer DPI
200
200
200
200
Required Dimension
(in pixels)
700 x 1000
1000 x 1400
1600 x 2000
3328 x 4992
Total Pixels in the
Image
700,000 pixels
1.4 MP
3.2 MP
16.6 MP
The pictures captured by the image sensor of the digital camera are stored in some kind
of storage device. Storage devices used in digital cameras are floppy disk, CD-R,
micro-hard drive, and flash memory card. Flash memory card is the most popular of
them all because it is small, lightweight, consumes little power, and rugged. There are
five incompatible formats of flash memory cards supported by different groups of
companies, namely: PC Cards, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Sticks, and xDPicture Cards. The smallest and latest format of the flash memory card is xD-Picture
Card, which is jointly developed by Fuji and Olympus. It measures 2mm x 25mm x
25mm, about the size of a toe nail. However, as of this writing, the price is twice higher
compared to the other formats.
Most digital cameras come with very little flash memory (ranging from 8MB to 32MB)
to store the captured image. With 32MB, you can only store 15 high resolution shots.
When the memory is full, you cannot take shots anymore until you transfer the images
to a computer and erase the contents of the flash memory card. Hence, it is a terrible
mistake to walk for six hours into the jungle with very little storage capacity flash
memory card because you would have to return to your station to download the
images. As a general rule of thumb, bring 512MB for every two days of staying in the
field away from your computer. With 512MB, you can capture 247 high resolution
photos at 2272x1704 pixels or 5203 low resolution photos at 640x480 pixels.
Power Supply
Having enough power supply is equally important as having enough flash memory.
Batteries are needed to power the image sensor, microprocessor, LCD panel and flash.
Avoid a digital camera that uses proprietary batteries because it limits your choice of
brands and where to buy batteries. Get a digital camera that accepts locally available
AA alkaline batteries and AA rechargeable batteries like nickel-cadmium (NiCd),
nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), and lithium-ion (Li-ion). Among the rechargeable
batteries, Li-ion is considered the best because it holds more power for a longer time.
Unlike NiCD, it does not suffer the so-called “memory effect” or the inability to hold
complete charge over time. A set of four AA dry cell batteries can last up to four
hours of continuous shooting without using flash and LCD panel. Frequent use of
42
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
LCD panel and flash will drain the battery power more quickly. It is advisable to get
three sets (12 pieces) of AA rechargeable batteries especially if there is electricity in the
location that you will take most of your shots. If there is no electricity, then make sure
you have enough alkaline batteries for the duration of your trip. If you are going to use
rechargeable batteries, do not forget to buy a battery charger.
Computer
Interface
Once the flash memory is full of images, you need to transfer the images (see
transferring captured images) to a computer. This means that you need to have a way
of connecting your digital camera to your computer. Computers connect to external
devices through some kind of cable wire or radio frequency signal. Some examples of
cables are line printer cable, serial cable, USB cable, UTP cable, firewire cable, and fiber
optic cable. Technical discussion of the differences of these cables is beyond the scope
of this user’s guide. Suffice it to say that most digital cameras, starting from the 3.2MP
models, communicate to computers through USB cable. USB stands for Universal
Serial Bus, a host-peripheral communication standard that supports data transfer rates
up to 12Mbps (million bits per second). Computers purchased about four years ago
have USB ports. Hence, they can accept USB devices like digital cameras.
Even if the digital camera is properly connected to and detected by your computer,
they still cannot communicate with each other without the correct device driver.
Device driver is software that contains instructions how computer and external devices
like digital camera communicate with each other. Make sure that your computer
operating system, like Windows XP, supports “plug and play” devices. A “plug and
play” operating system recognizes and able to use a “plug and play” external device
without installing an additional software. If your computer operating system is older
than Windows XP (e.g., Windows 98/ME), make sure that you install first the device
driver that comes with your digital camera.
Some Tips
It is assumed that before you go to the field, you are already familiar with the different
functions of your digital camera and that you already practiced taking shots in all
lighting conditions. Before you can actually take photos in the field, you need to do the
following:
1. Set the correct time and date of the camera. Date and time can be important
pieces of information in the years to come, when you want to know when the
photos were taken.
2. Set “File No. Reset” to OFF. Digital cameras follow the DOS convention of
naming files (i.e., eight characters for filename and three characters for
extension as in IMG_0001.JPG, IMG_0002.JPG, etc.). They automatically
43
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
assign unique number sequentially every time you capture an image. However,
some cameras would reset the number to “ooo1” after transferring the images
to a computer and after deleting the images in the flash memory card. This
creates a problem because the second batch of photos has identical filenames
to the first batch. In other words, if you are not careful, there is a danger that
you will overwrite your earlier shots when you transfer the second batch of
photos to the computer. If the digital camera has “File No Reset” option in its
program menu, set it to OFF. If none then make sure that when you transfer
the next batch of photos, you put them in a different folder or directory in
your computer.
3. Use natural light for capturing images of plant specimens. Look for a place in
the field that is relatively flat, no direct obstruction between the ground and the
sky, located next to an object like house, huts, or cliff that would shield you
from direct sunlight. Clear blue sky and snow white cloudy sky provide natural
light. Natural color tone of the subject is accurately captured and rendered
under this condition.
4. Use simple, plain, contrasting background. White, sky blue, and black are
generally good background colors. In Lakewood, we made a mistake of
capturing images without background. The result was not usable for digital
album. Later own, I put manila paper inside the 2x3 ft clear plastic. The raw
sienna color of manila paper and the transparent color of plastic produced a
white color background. The plastic provides protection so that the manila
paper would not get wet. The advantage of this approach is that the
background material is waterproof because of the plastic container, and very
portable and light to transport in the jungle. The problems are wrinkles, glares
from intense skylight, and difficult to have perfectly level shooting background
because the manila paper and plastic cover go with the contour of the ground.
A better approach would be to cut a ¼-inch thick marine plywood into 2x3
feet size. Paint it with flat wall enamel for its first coating. Apply second and
third coating with white glossy quick dry enamel on one side and blue glossy
quick dry enamel on the other side. This makes the plywood quite water
resistant and gives you two background colors in one piece of material. The
disadvantage is that it is not foldable and requires extra days of drying from
painting to actual use. Just bring a clean rug to wipe out dirt every now and
then. It would be good if a measuring ruler is glued into the plywood or the
scale is painted into the plywood to get an accurate dimension of the captured
images.
5. Put the plant specimens on the background plywood nicely keeping in mind
the plant parts that should be included in the specimens. Aim your lens to
your subject and hold the camera steady. Use the viewfinder instead of LCD
panel to save battery power. Push the shutter halfway down to allow the
44
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
metering system of the camera to calculate the distance to the subject and the
amount of light needed. The camera will automatically adjust its focus and
exposure. A light indicator (red, green, orange, or yellow depending on the
camera) near the viewfinder would light once the camera gets a perfect focus.
Once you see the light, push the shutter all the way down. You now have a
newly captured digital image of your specimen. Take two three shots per
specimen so that you have more choices later on. Record the range of photo
numbers in the specimen collection form mentioned in Table 3. If the subject
is tiny, use macro focus. With macro focus, you need to turn on the LCD
panel so that you see the correct composition. After taking the shot while still
arranging the next specimen, turn off the LCD panel to conserve battery
power.
45
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Data Processing
In conventional research, data processing is a distinct stage after data collection. In
today’s age of information technology in which portable computer and digital camera
are widely available, the boundary between data collection and processing is blurred
because data collection and processing can be done simultaneously or iteratively.
Recall that during free listing workshop, preliminary data processing already took place
– data entry and sorting to establish unity of naming of plants by the community plant
experts. For the purpose of this users’ guide, data processing refers to the process of
transforming a collection of (handwritten or tape-recorded) data into digital form so
that it can be manipulated by computer to produce a desired output. Data processing
therefore means encoding, editing, and tabulating results. In ethnobotanical
documentation, there are two broad categories of data that need to be processed,
namely:
™ Alphanumeric data of plant specimens and other related information collected
during data-gathering stage of the project.
™ Captured images of plant specimens
Processing Alphanumeric Data
Alphanumeric data refers to qualitative and quantitative data of plant attributes
recorded during free listing workshop and fieldnotes during specimen collection. This
includes plant names, specimen number, photo number, scientific name (if available),
habitat, shape and color of flowers, flowering month, shape and color of fruits, fruiting
months, elevation, availability, uses, special notes, collectors’ names, collection date,
and location among others. The special notes may contain information on the
characteristics of the wood, branching pattern, and canopy formation of the trees.
Alphanumerical data also includes demographic characteristics of key informants such
as name, age, gender, education, and ethnicity. All this information have to be entered
in the database program that was created during the Technical Preparation Stage to
make correcting data, generating reports, and summarizing results in tabular or graphic
form easy.
46
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Entering Data
There are two ways of entering data. During database design and free listing, you have
tried entering data directly to the table. This is fine if there are few fields to display on
the screen. If there are more items to display than what your screen can accommodate,
it is better if you use the data entry form.
To use data entry form:
1. Switch to the main database window.
2. Choose Form, and then double-click Plant Data Collection Form. The data
entry form should be displayed. It is partially filled because you entered data
directly to the table during free listing workshop. .
Figure 14: Data entry form
3. Enter the data from the Specimen Collection Form. Escape the fields that are
already filled by pressing the TAB key on your keyboard or by using your
mouse.
4. The fields called habitat, location, plant type, and availability have arrow down or
pull down menu. This is because these fields are linked to the lookup table
that you created during the Technical Preparation Stage. In our example in
Figure 14, the field habitat displayed eight possible choices, from Forest up to
Uncultivated Farm.
47
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
5. To fill out fields that are linked to the lookup table, simply click on the arrow
down and choose the correct category. Because you simply have to choose the
category, there is no room for typographical error.
6. After filling the last field called collectors, press the ENTER key on your
keyboard.
7. Access will automatically save the data you just entered and give you another
blank form that you can fill out with another specimen data.
Quantifying Qualitative Observations
During free listing workshop, you asked the community plant experts to provide
information on the uses of different plants. Some plants have single use while others
have multiple uses. There are probably hundred of uses of the different plants found
in the ancestral domain. But how do you summarize the number of uses based on
your notes? The following are some steps that can be used to quantify qualitative
notes.
Querying Database
1. Switch to the main database window.
2. Select Queries, and then double-click Create query by using wizard (Figure 15).
3. Under Tables/Queries input box, click on arrow down and then select Table:
Plant Data.
4. Under available fields, highlight the fieldname Uses and then click the single
arrow > to transfer it to the selected fields.
5. Click Next.
6. Access would ask: “What title do you want for your query?” Type Plant Uses.
7. Tick the Modify the query design and then click Finish. You are now in query
design mode.
8. Click on the menu bar Query | Make Table Query
9. In the Make Table dialog box, type Plant Uses. Make sure Current Database is
selected before clicking OK.
10. Click Query | Run to create new table about plant uses.
48
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
11. Access would alert you: “You are about to paste x rows into new table.” Click
Yes.
Figure 15: Simple Query Wizard
12. Click the X button on the main query design window
13. Access would ask: “Do you want to save changes to the design of query ‘Plant
Data Query’?” Click Yes. You have just finished your query and you now have
a new table named Plant Uses.
Modifying Table
1. Choose Tables and double-click Plant Uses
2. Carefully examine the uses to develop a comprehensive list of keywords (e.g.,
medicinal, food, furniture, ornamental, etc.)
3. Click View | Design View
4. Type the keywords under the Field Name
49
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
5. Define the Data Type as Yes/No. Save your changes and switch to datasheet
view
Figure 16: Category of Uses
6. Create new form (see Creating Data Entry Form) using Plant Uses: Table as
your source of fields.
7. The newly created form should display the descriptive note of Uses as well as
the category of uses. In our example in Figure 17 below, the plant is used for
house building, furniture making, firewood, resin and medicine.
Figure 17: Category of Uses
50
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
8. Tick the categories that closely resemble to the descriptive notes. Do this with
the other specimen as well. The tick actually means “Yes” and without tick
means “No” as defined in the data type.
With the use of statistical software like SPSS, you can now determine how many or
what percentage of the plants in the ancestral domain have the potential use for
furniture, firewood, and resin among others. Other categories of data in the database
like plant type, elevation, even the demographic characteristics of the informants can
be directly read by SPSS for the generation of descriptive statistics. This is possible
because SPSS and Access are both ODBC-compliant. ODBC stands for Open
DataBase Connectivity, a database driver that allows to different database programs to
understand each other.
51
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Processing Captured Images
Captured images of plant specimens are already stored by the digital camera in digital
format. Hence, image processing of digital photos simply means editing some
attributes of the image to produce a desired photo. Cropping (a technical jargon for
deleting unwanted portions of the image), resizing the image, and adjusting contrast
and brightness are common routines in digital photo editing. These routines can be
done by almost any graphic editing software. FlipAlbum, the software that we will use
for creating digital photo album later, has built-in graphic editing software that can do
basic graphic editing tasks. However, it does not have the advanced editing functions
of Adobe Photoshop. If you desire for more advanced functions like creating “layer,”
Adobe Photoshop 7 or higher version is the recommended software.
Note that this section is not meant to cover all functions of Adobe Photoshop. Doing
so would require a separate volume. There are well written manuals of Photoshop that
can be purchased and downloaded over the Internet. This section will only cover the
basic tools of Adobe Photoshop needed to carry out the task of preparing digital
photographs for the creation of digital photo album.
Transferring Captured Images from Digital Camera to PC
Before editing digital photographs, you need to transfer them first from your digital
camera to your computer. In fact, you should have routinely done this every after you
filled up the flash memory card of your digital camera.
To transfer captured images:
1. Plug the bigger end of the USB cable to the USB port of your computer, and
then plug the smaller end of the USB cable to the USB port of your digital
camera.
2. Set your digital camera to preview mode, and then turn it on.
3. Turn on your computer. Once the computer has fully loaded its operating
system, it should have detected the presence of your digital camera.
4. Click on My Computer icon; the name of your digital camera should be
displayed like a hard drive. (This can also be accomplished by clicking Start |
All Programs | Accessories | Windows Explorer).
5. Click on the digital camera icon to display contents of your digital camera.
52
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
6. To see which photos to transfer, on your Windows Explorer, click View |
Thumbnails. It is recommended that you transfer all the photos in your digital
camera to your computer so that, after a successful file transfer, you can delete
all the photos in your digital camera. This will make your digital camera
available for the next round of taking digital photographs.
7. Click on the first photo you would like to transfer, and then hold the SHIFT
key of your keyboard while moving your mouse pointer to the last photo that
you would like to include in the file transfer.
8. Right-click your mouse, and then click Copy.
9. Create three folders in your hard drive (name the first one PHOTO_ORIGINAL,
the second one as PHOTO_BACKUP, and the third one as PHOTO_EDIT).
10. Click on PHOTO_ORIGINAL folder, then right-click your mouse to display the
context sensitive menu. Click Paste to copy the photos from the computer
clipboard to the PHOTO_ORIGINAL folder.
11. After making sure that you all have the photos in the PHOTO_ORIGINAL
folder, you can now safely delete the contents of your digital camera.
Making Backup Copies
1. To make backup up copy, choose all the files inside the PHOTO_ORIGINAL
folder using steps 7 and 8 above.
2. Right-click your mouse on PHOTO_BACKUP folder to highlight it and at the
same time to display the context sensitive menu. Click Paste. The files from
PHOTO_ORIGINAL should have been copied to PHOTO_BACKUP folder.
Note that it is very important to make several back up copies of your captured images
just in case something unexpected happens to your computer. Hard disk failure and
virus infections may render your data inaccessible. You can make back up copies to
CDR, CDRW, or DVD. Store your back up copies in safe places, preferably in two or
more locations (e.g., home, office, or bank safe deposit box).
53
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Choosing and Renaming Captured Images
It is very likely that you had taken two or three shots of the same plant specimen
during the digital photography stage. Choose first your best shot of each specimen by
using a graphic viewer. You can use XP’s built-in “Windows Picture and Fax Viewer”
to preview the photos.
1. Click Start | My Computer | Local Disk ((C: or D:) depending on which hard
drive you stored the captured images), and PHOTO_ORIGINAL folder to display
the thumbnails of the captured images.
2. Double-click an image to trigger the “Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.” This
will display a preview of an image.
Figure 18: Preview image using built-in windows graphic viewer
3. Browse the images using the navigation buttons located on the toolbar at the
bottom of the image.
4. Click the diskette icon on the toolbar to save the desired image to
PHOTO_EDIT folder.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to preview, select, and save all desired images.
54
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
6. When you finished choosing all the desired images, double-click PHOTO_EDIT
folder to display its contents. Note that the filenames of the images are the
original photo numbers assigned by the digital camera (e.g., IMG_0001.JPG or
P1010001.JPG depending on the naming convention of your digital camera).
7. Right-click on the image to display the context sensitive menu and then click
Rename. The filename is now highlighted and ready to be overwritten.
8. Delete the photo number and replace it with the corresponding local name
that you recorded earlier during free listing and specimen collection. Do not
forget to add the file extension “.jpg” (or whatever default file extension used
by your digital camera) at the end of each filename or else the photos would no
longer be recognized by your graphic program. Be careful not to commit
typographical errors when typing the filename because it will be used by the
FlipAlbum® software to display the table of contents of the digital photo
album.
55
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Adobe Photoshop Toolbar
In this manual, we will use Adobe Photoshop 7 as our graphic editing software. Other
versions of Photoshop have similar functions. Familiarize yourself with its tools below
because we will be using some of them.
56
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Cropping Images
The best photo that represents your specimen may still have unwanted portion in it. In
the example below, the desired portion is inside the blue frame. You can remove the
unwanted portion using the cropping tool of
Adobe Photoshop.
Figure 19: Photo that needs cropping
To crop an image:
1. Select the crop tool from Photoshop toolbar.
2. Set the cropping tool to resample the image during cropping by entering the
desired image resolution. If you want the final image resolution to be
1024x768 or 512x384 pixels, enter the height and width in pixels in the option
bar. Use the same image resolution for the other digital photos so your digital
photo album will have consistent look.
3. Define the cropping marquee by dragging over the part of the image you want
to keep. You can reposition the marquee later.
57
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
4. Double-click your mouse somewhere inside the marquee to crop the unwanted
portion of the image.
5. Click Save to overwrite the unedited image.
Resizing Images
It is very likely that when you took your digital images, you set your digital camera to
the highest resolution so that you can make high quality print out. However, to display
high resolution image on your computer screen, the computer must make millions of
recalculation to make the whole image fit on the screen. In digital photo album, the
program must flip several photos in rapid succession. If the image is set to the highest
resolution, the display of each image would be delayed. It is therefore preferable if you
reduce the image resolution to the image resolution of a typical computer monitor or
better yet to the size of the page of the album. This requires resizing the image.
To resize an image:
1. Click Image on the menu bar, and then Image Size to display the image size
dialog box..
2. Enter 1024 pixels for the width and 768 pixels for the height. This will make a
full screen display of an image on the standard 17-inch monitor. Alternately,
you can enter 512 pixels for the width and 384 pixels for the height. This is the
actual size of the photo that is displayed horizontally in the digital photo album
with some space at the bottom to write botanical description.
3. Click File and Save to overwrite the old file.
Changing Image Background
Sometimes, you do not like the background of your image. You would like to replace
it with a different background color or a different picture. If your image has a plain
background and you would like to replace it with different color as illustrated in Figure
20, do the following:
1. Select the Magic Wand on the toolbar.
2. Click on the light blue background color of the original image. The magic
wand would automatically select the pixels that have the similar value.
58
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
3. Click on the Set Foreground Color icon to display the “color picker” dialog
box. Select foreground color by clicking on the red color shade or by entering
R=255, G=0, B=55 on the color option boxes. Click on OK button.
4. Select Paint Bucket Tool icon on the toolbar, and then click somewhere inside
the marquee created by the Magic Wand. The background color should now
be red.
Figure 20: The same image with two different backgrounds
Using Different Photo as Image Background
You can use a different photo as background of your favorite image. This requires the
use of different Photoshop tools. This is the part of the digital graphic editing
technology that blurs the boundary between reality and fantasy because you can
potentially put an innocent person in the crime scene or put a popular face on
somebody else’s nude body through graphic manipulation. Please use the steps outline
below with some sense of moral responsibility.
59
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
1. If the background of the image you would like to select is composed of
different colors like the one shown in Figure 21, use the “Polygonal Lasso
Tool” to manually trace the shape of the image. Magic Wand is inefficient in
this case because the pixels of the image background have different color
values.
Figure 21: Using different image as background
2. After tracing the image, right-click somewhere inside the marquee to display the
context sensitive menu, and then click on Layer via Cut. There should be a
new layer containing only the selected or “cut” image.
3. To display layers, click on Windows | Layers on the menu.
4. Turn off the background layer by clicking on the “eye” icon next to it. The
newly “cut” image is now displayed without any background.
5. Click on the active layer, and then select the Magic Wand from the toolbar.
6. With the Magic Wand selected, click on the colorless background portion of
the image.
7. Click Select | Inverse on the menu bar. This will select the image shape.
60
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
8. Click Edit |Copy on the menu bar. This should copy the selected image to the
clipboard.
9. Switch to the image that you would like to use as background, and then click
Edit and Paste. The pasted image is put on a separate layer.
10. Select the Move Tool on the toolbar to move the pasted image on a desired
position. Moving around the pasted image without affecting the background
image is possible because the pasted image is automatically placed on a
separate layer. This makes Photoshop more advance compared to other
graphic editing programs.
11. To blend the pasted image into its background, select the Smudge Tool from
the toolbar and smudge the outer edges of the pasted image.
12. You may add text labels to your photo by selecting the Horizontal Type Tool
or Vertical Type Tool from the toolbar. While the Type Tool is active, font and
paragraph formatting options will be displayed. After typing and formatting
the text, click on the Move Tool and reposition the label to a desired portion of
the image.
13. If you plan to make more changes to the image in the near future, save the file
in Photoshop format (it uses “.PSD” file extension). Be aware that PSD files
use large amount of disk space (one file would occupy around 20MB while the
JPEG format of the same image would only use less than 1MB).
14. When you are satisfied with everything, click Layer | Flatten Image on the
menu bar. This will merge all layers into one image.
15. Save your file in JPEG format overwriting the original unedited file.
Adjusting Brightness and Contrast
Sometimes the image is too dark or too bright. This can be changed by adjusting
brightness and contrast. Adjustment can be done automatically or manually.
To make automatic adjustment, click Image | Adjustments | Auto Contrast.
To make manual adjustment:
1. Click Image | Adjustments | Brightness/Contrast. This will display brightness
and contrast slider bars.
61
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
2. Put a tick to the Preview box so that you can see real-time the changes you
made before committing the changes to the photo.
3. Click and hold on to the slider to make the manual adjustment. Sometimes a
wrinkled light background can be removed by simply increasing brightness and
increasing contrast as shown in Figure 22.
Figure 22: Flattening background using brightness/contrast adjustment
62
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Packaging of Information Products
Packaging informational products is an important stage in ethnobotanical
documentation. In Lakewood, a herbarium was established at the Tribal Hall of the
Subanen as part of their living heritage and learning site to showcase biodiversity. We
also produced both electronic and print materials to serve as registry of plants found in
the ancestral domain as well as learning materials for the functional literacy of the
Subanen. This user-guide will discuss only the creation of digital photo album, which is
a user-friendly and self-running biodiversity database intended to serve as electronic
registry and to be used by non-technical users.
Digital photo album uses album as the metaphor of organizing captured images and
the associated botanical description. The advantage of using the album metaphor is
that it is something that most people, even in rural areas, are familiar with. Fortunately,
there is commercial software called FlipAlbum® 6 Pro that creates digital photo album
with realistic, album-like interface that is more natural, familiar and intuitive to a wider
audience (see http://www.flipalbum.com). The finish product is stand-alone software
complete with menu and user-friendly navigation buttons.
We already completed the preparatory stage of creating digital photo album during the
editing of digital images. It is assumed that you already have FlipAlbum® installed in
your computer (if not, you can download a fully functional trial version of FlipAlbum®
from www.flipalbum.com which will transfer you to www.download.com).
Putting Digital Photos in FlipAlbum
The next steps would be to put the photos into the FlipAlbum® itself.
Run FlipAlbum®. It will display a “Quick Start” flash screen with buttons for the
three general steps of creating digital photo album.
1. Click Open Folder button to display the folders on your hard drive containing
the edited images. Look for the PHOTO_EDIT folder that you created earlier.
Highlight the folder and then click Next button.
2. Click Page Layout and choose Single Image per Page.
3. Click Theme to choose the theme of your album. The “theme” contains preset
cover pages, album background and page background.
4. Click Finish after you choose a theme. If you don’t choose a theme, the
default cover pages, background page, and album pages will be loaded.
63
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Wait for several minutes because FlipAlbum® is now creating photo thumbnails, table
of contents, index, and inserting the photos into the pages. All images inside the folder
(PHOTO_EDIT) that FlipAlbum® can recognize will be inserted into the pages of the
digital photo album. The unwanted images or pages can be removed later within
FlipAlbum®. After completing its tasks, FlipAlbum® will automatically flip the cover
page.
Inserting Document in Digital Photo Album
After a few minutes of waiting, you now have a fully functional digital photo album in
edit mode. Browse through it by clicking on the pages. You will notice that the images
are automatically positioned somewhere in the middle of each page without any
botanical description. You are actually only half-way done with the project. You still
need to type the title of your digital photo album on the cover page, write
authorship/citation page, end user’s agreement, minimum computer system
requirements, preface of the sponsoring organizations, acknowledgement, chapter on
the technical report of the documentation project, and a page showing the logos of the
funding agency and sponsoring organizations. In other words, you are practically
creating an entire book only to be published in electronic form through a CD-ROM.
Please see the digital photo album created for Lakewood for an example of how the
finished product looks like (Mesaligan Pesalabuhan Subanen 2004).
For the most part, editing the digital photo album simply means moving photos to a
desired location on each page, and inserting documents from other applications.
FlipAlbum® supports RTF (Rich Text Format) documents. You are better off if you
prepare all documents using a word processor like MsWord or WordPerfect that can
save documents in RTF. Once documents are ready, you can add blank pages in
FlipAlbum® and use cut and paste operation.
To insert a single blank page in Flip Album:
1. Click Edit | Insert Page | Left Page or Right Page
To insert multiple blank pages in Flip Album:
1. Click Edit| Insert Page| Multiple Pages. An “Insert Multiple Pages” dialog box
is displayed.
2. Specify the number of blank pages to be inserted. Tick also the radio button
of where to insert the pages: before left page, before right page, at end of
album.
3. Click OK. You should now have the number of blank pages you specified.
64
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
To insert text from MSWord to a FlipAlbum® page:
1. Run both MsWord and FlipAlbum®. On MsWord, load the document you
would like to incorporate in your digital photo album.
2. Highlight a paragraph or two from MsWord document and then right-click
your mouse to display the context sensitive menu. Click Copy. The selected
text should have been temporarily stored to the computer clipboard.
3. Switch to FlipAlbum® and choose the page where you want to insert the text.
4. Click Insert Annotation either on the menu bar or toolbar of FlipAlbum®.
You have to specify whether you want to insert annotation on the left or right
page. An annotation box together with an annotation bar will appear.
5. Right-click your mouse inside the annotation box and then click Paste. You
can change the text attributes (text color, font, size, format, alignment, bullets)
by selecting the text and choosing the desired attributes on the annotation bar.
If you only want to add a few lines of text like a title or a description, you could
just type it directly on the annotation box without using a word processor.
6. Click somewhere outside of the input box. The pasted text is now displayed.
7. Make necessary adjustments of the margins by placing your mouse cursor at
any edge of the annotation box. Once the mouse cursor changes into doubleheaded arrow, click and drag the annotation box to the desired size.
8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 insert annotation in other pages of the digital photo album.
Making Album CD-R Ready
When you are happy with the layout of your graphics and text, you can compile your
work so that all photos, their botanical descriptions, and the run-time engine of your
digital photo album are placed in one location. After completing the steps below, your
album will be ready for CD-R burning.
The “Help File” of Flip Album has the following instruction on how to make your
album CD-R ready.
1. Open an album you want to export onto a CD.
2. Click CD Maker on the menu bar and click Create Album CD. The Create
Album CD dialog box will be displayed.
3. Select Create a new Album CD radio button and tick Single Album on CD.
65
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
4. Click OK. The Create a new CD Folder dialog box will be displayed. You need
to create a folder to contain all the relevant files to be burned onto the CD.
5. Navigate to the desired location (Eg C:\) and type in the new folder name (eg.
EthnoCD).
6. Click Create. Your folder will be created and your album will be exported to
the folder you have just created (eg C:\EthnoCD). The Album CD Options
Menu dialog box will be displayed.
7. Click Set Album Options if you want to change some settings to your album.
The Set Album Options dialog box will be displayed.
8. Click the General tab if you want to set a splash screen to appear before your
album launches after the Album CD is popped into the CD-ROM drive.
9. The splash screen can be any JPG or BMP image. Select the Start with splash
screen for check box and click the picture button.
10. Navigate to the folder containing the splash screen that you have created,
select it and click Open.
11. Select the number of seconds (1 - 100 seconds) you would want your splash
screen to remain on screen before your album appears.
12. To protect your photos from being copied by the end-users, click the Security
tab, and then check Encrypt Current Album. Click OK. Note that using this
option will prevent user from printing and saving picture into their hard drive.
Their graphic viewer cannot even display a preview of the photos.
13. To change the album title that will appear on the Windows title bar on the
album CD, click Set Album CD Title, type the title and click OK.
14. To preview the album, click Preview Album CD. Once done with the preview,
close the album and the Album CD Options Menu dialog box will be displayed
again.
15. Click Next. The Burn CD Information dialog box will be displayed. Take note
of the location of the folders and files that you need to put into your CD-R
writing software.
16. Click OK. Now your digital photo album is ready for CD-R writing.
66
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Burning Album into CD-R
To make your digital photo album truly portable, you need to write its associated files
in a blank CD-R. The process of writing files to a compact disc is called “CD
burning.” It is CD burning because your CD writer is using laser beam to burn the
organic dye substrate in the disk while transferring data from the hard disk to the CDR. To burn your album to CDR, you need at least 48X CD writer, CD writing software
(e.g., Nero), and blank CD-R. Follow the instruction of the CD writing software on
how to burn your album files. Make sure that you CD write the following folders and
files:
™
™
™
™
FlipAlbumCD
MacCDViewer.app
Autorun.inf
StartCD.exe
When you finished CD-writing, the end users of the digital photo album can simply
insert CD into their CD-ROM drive and view it instantly without downloading or
installing any software.
CD-Label
To make you digital photo album looks professionally produced, it has to have label
and jewel insert. If you want to make hundreds of copies of your digital photo album
for commercial distribution, it might be a good idea to send your master copy to
professional CD duplicator and CD label printer. But if you only intend to make a few
dozen copies, you can make CD label yourself by buying CD labeler from your local
computer supply store. Neato and SureThing are some of the well-known names.
CD-labeler usually comes with blank label stickers and labeling software that you can
use to design your CD cover.
67
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Protecting Community Intellectual
Property Rights
It was pointed out during the introductory section of this user’s guide that putting into
writing an oral knowledge poses the danger of the community losing their intellectual
property rights through piracy and commercial utilization of their knowledge.
Cognizant of this danger, we adopted three approaches in protecting community
intellectual property rights during ethnobotanical documentation in Lakewood and
Bakun.
Signing of Declaration of Intention and/or MOA – The signing of Declaration of
Intention, which was later on transformed into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA),
is the first step in protecting community intellectual property rights. This was done
before the actual documentation began. This legally binding agreement stipulates the
terms and condition of the documentation including ownership and utilization of
documented knowledge (see the section on “Seeking Free and Prior Informed
Consent”).
Encryption of Digital Information Products – We took advantage in the advancement
of information technology in packaging ethnobotanical knowledge through the
production of digital photo album. The digitally packaged album was encrypted to
make it difficult for pirates to copy or print the pages of the digital album containing
photos and description of culturally important plants found in the ancestral domain.
No other programs can view the photo files except the run time engine included in the
album. In addition, we only included in the botanical description the generic uses (e.g.,
medicinal) of plants but not their specific uses and recipes. Anyone interested in
utilizing ethnobotanical knowledge for commercial purposes should negotiate with the
community following the guidelines set forth by the NCIP. This is to ensure that
whatever commercial benefits that can be derived from ethnobotanical knowledge, a
certain percentage of that benefit should go back to the community to improve their
quality of life.
Registering with IPR Office – While the present intellectual property rights regime is
designed to be availed of by individuals, documented ethnobotanical knowledge with
community legitimate tribal organization as institutional author can be protected by the
Philippine and international copyright law (see Luna 2003). In the Lakewood
ethnobotanical documentation, we will register by May 2005 with the Philippine
National Library our digital and print packaged products such as digital photo album,
pictorial book, illustrated comics, and packaged information about rice germplasm.
When the morphological documentation of rice germplasm is completed after three
cropping cycles, we hope to register the rice varieties uniquely grown by the Subanen
under the Plant Variety Act.
68
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
To register packaged products with the Philippine National Library, submit the
following:
™ Application for Copyright (see Appendix B).
™ Affidavit executed by the Chairman of the Tribal Council stipulating that on
behalf of the community, the tribal organization is the institutional author of
the packaged products (see Appendix C).
™ Have the individuals who were actually involved in packaging the products
waived their rights in favor of the community by signing the Waiver Form (see
Appendix D)
™ Submit 2 copies of each packaged products.
™ One hundred pesos (P100) registration fee for each title.
69
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
Summary
Ethnobotanical documentation was carried out among the Subanen in Lakewood,
Zamboanga del Sur and among the Kankanaey in Bakun, Benguet as a result of the
converging interest between the assisting organizations and the indigenous
communities in those areas. The primary objective of the documentation was to
capture and record the vanishing but largely untapped oral knowledge about the plants
around them. The mutually enriching experiences of participatory ethnobotanical
documentation in two communities led to the writing of this user’s guide. The
objective is to provide guide to facilitators who would like to document ethnobotanical
knowledge using participatory approach and information technology.
Adhering to the principles of participatory research, ethnobotanical documentation
requires social preparation of all parties involved to build consensus for the joint
activity. Whatever is agreed verbally especially on the roles and responsibilities of the
involved parties, it is transformed into a Memorandum of Agreement, to make the
agreement legally binding. With varying levels of technical expertise, hands-on training
of the documentation team is a necessary part of technical preparation. Hands-on
training is also a way of transfering technical skills to the members of the local
documentation team so that, as much as possible, members of the indigenous
communities do the documentation themselves. The non-literate but knowledgeable
community elders play the role of information providers while the younger but literate
community members play the role of documenters.
Data gathering refers to the process of recording the observations, experiences, and
knowledge of the community plant experts as well as the observations of the
researchers. This also refers to the activity of collecting plant specimens identified by
the community experts for herbarium establishment, digital photography, and further
documentation of the plant physical attributes. The key activities involved during data
gathering are free listing workshop, plant specimen collection, and taking digital
photographs.
As a reflection of the digital age of Information Revolution, the discussion on data
processing revolves around the process of transforming a collection of (handwritten or
tape-recorded) data into digital form so that it can be manipulated by computer to
produce a desired output. In ethnobotanical documentation, there are two broad
categories of data that need to be processed, namely:
1) alphanumeric data of plant
specimens and other related information collected during data-gathering stage of the
project; and, 2) captured images of plant specimens. Step by step instructions on how
70
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
E T H N O B O T A N I C A L
D O C U M E N T A T I O N
to create a database for systematic storage and retrieval of alphanumeric data and digital
editing of captured images are discussed in this section.
Packaging of informational materials is an important stage of the project in which data
are transformed into useful information that can be used by the community and other
interested users. The documentation in Lakewood led to the production of digital
photo album to serve as electronic registry of plant biodiversity in the ancestral
domain, digital photo album of rice germplasm (another electronic registry of in situ
germplasm conservation), pictorial book of plants and five titles of illustrated comics
for use of the Subanen literacy program, and the writing of this user’s guide. This
section of the user’s guide discusses the steps of creating digital photo album and how
encryption technology can be used to protect community intellectual property rights.
The final section of the manual is a discussion on how to register packaged
informational products to protect community intellectual property rights.
71
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Bibliography
1. Alcorn, J. B.
1984 In Huastec Mayan ethnobotany, edited by Alcorn, J. B., University of Texas Press,
Austin, Texas.
2. Bernard, R. H.
1988 In Research methods in cultural anthropology, edited by Bernard, R. H., SAGE
Publications, Inc., Newbury Park, California.
3. Brush, S. B.
1980 Potato taxonomies in Andean Agriculture. In Indigenous knowledge systems and
development, edited by Brokensha, D., Warren, D. M., and Warner, O.. University Press
of America, Washington, DC.
4. Conklin, H. C.
1957 In The Hanunoo agriculture in the Philippines, edited by Conklin, H. C., Food and
Agriculture Organization, Rome.
5. Cotton, C. M.
1996 In Ethnobotany principles and application, edited by Cotton, C. M., John Wiley &
Sons, New York.
6. Curtin, D. P.
2003 A short course in choosing and using a digital camera.
7. Hays, T. E.
1979 Plant classification and nomenclature in Ndumba, Papua New Guinea Highlands.
Ethnology 18:253-270.
8. IIRR
1996 In Recording and using indigenous knowledge: a manual, edited by IIRR,
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Silang, Cavite, Philippines.
9. Mesaligan Pesalabuhan Subanen
2004 In Digital photo album of culturally important plants among the Subanen in
Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur, edited by Mesaligan Pesalabuhan Subanen, DARWMCIP and ICRAF, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay and Los Banos, Laguna.
10. Nice, K. and Gurivich Gerald Jay
2005 How digital cameras work.
11. Pelto, P. and Pelto, G.
1978 In Anthropological research: the structure of inquiry, edited by Pelto, P. and Pelto,
G., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
12. Spradley, J. P.
1979 In The ethnographic interview, edited by Spradley, J. P., Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, New York.
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Appendices
Appendix A: Options for Protection of
Indigenous Knowledge
Atty. Ipat G. Luna
Legal Consultant
16 June 2003
This legal memorandum responds to the general question of how intellectual rights held by
indigenous peoples for the development over generations of varieties of edible and medicinal
plants, agricultural and agroforestry practices and resulting germplasms can be protected and
thereby benefit the rights owners.
There are two aspects to consider in effecting a protection of this right. The first one is where a
community is protecting an inchoate right over its innovations to protect against future piracy. The
enforcement of this right entails monitoring and taking to justice anyone who violates the right as
protected. Once registered and covered by some means of protection such as current IPR laws, the
second stage is where a beneficial use that is likely to be commercialized is already found and a
contract needs to be drafted between a commercial entity and a community that holds the
intellectual property right. These stages are by no means exclusive of each other. While this
introductory paper will deal mostly with the first stage, some level of discussion on the second stage
will inevitably be touched upon. However, to complete a discussion on the second stage would
require direct legal services to a community.
As such, it should be emphasized that these refer to general options and do not as yet address
specific and creative strategies that may be arrived at in the process of direct community
consultations.
I. Current Intellectual Property Rights Regime
Under the current system of both international law and Philippine law, the three basic intellectual
property rights protected are copyrights, patents and trademarks. These will be discussed in turn.
It is, however, important to bear in mind that these rights are designed to be availed of by
individuals, although there is nothing to preclude groups from using them to secure group rights.
A. Copyrights
International copyright law aims to protect artistic works from being used or reproduced without
the express permission of the author. Ideas cannot be copyrighted and the protection extends only
73
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
to the form in which the artistic work is rendered. The length of protection is a period of fifty years
beyond the life of the author.
As such, copyright relating to indigenous knowledge of agroforestry practices or germplasm has to
be rendered in some tangible form before it is subject to protection. When parties outside of the
community document indigenous knowledge, such assumes a form that may be subject to
copyright law. As such, it is important that communities whose indigenous knowledge is being
documented have an agreement with the documentor as to the use of the new form and the rights
being assumed by the documentor thereto. Such agreement can state, for instance, that copyright
belongs to the community and to the author and specify what each may or may not do with the
work. It may also specify any rights that the parties might assign to third parties who either
commission the documentation, or later use the documentation for commercial purposes.
B. Trademarks
A trademark has a better chance of being useful to a community in terms of actual products such as
a cultivar or consumer product which is a fruit of indigenous knowledge. Trademarks may be held
in perpetuity as long as it is used and fees are paid. It can protect against others from making the
claim that another product came from the same source. However, this right relates to the actual
good produced and is beneficial only when a name has been established regarding the desirable
qualities of a product. Such establishment would necessarily entail a great deal of costs in
advertising, marketing or even just in ensuring the quality control of the product. It might also be
possible if a trademark used denotes the name of a tribe, to oppose any other groups or persons
not inherently such to use the name of the tribe.
Collective marks are dealt with in the Intellectual Property Code3 and could cover community
ownership of the mark, provided that a clear agreement among the community may be discerned.
Where a product or work that represents indigenous knowledge has already been widely copied, a
trademark might not be adequate protection for the community. Trademarks also do not protect
the community’s right over their intellectual investment in creating germplasm or the process of
creating it.
Sec. 186. Collective marks are covered by an agreement among persons who are authorized to use such mark.
Collective marks cannot be the subject of license contracts.
3
74
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
C. Patents
Any technical solution of a problem in any field of human activity which is new, involves and
inventive step and is industrially applicable is patentable. It may be a product, or process, or an
improvement of any of the foregoing. Patent holders have the right to restrain, prohibit or prevent
any unauthorized person from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing that product of
using the process or products obtained from said process. Patent rights may also be assigned.
Except for what is provided under the Plant Variety Protection Act, plant varieties of animal breeds
or essentially biological process for the production of plants or animals are not patentable. Rights
under the Plant Variety Protection Act are discussed below.
Once patented, the protection of a patent entails costs for the enforcement of the right. Such cost
is expected to be prohibitive, especially if the patent has something to do with an agricultural
practice that a community has come up with. Those who apply for patents for their inventions do
not necessarily make a lot of money from their rights and the likelihood of large profits are slim.
As such, many advocates assert that adopting the current model of IPRs, including copyrights,
patents and trademarks, could divert attention and energy from more useful initiatives.
D. Geographical Indications
The Agreement establishing the WTO and its Annex 1C on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights deal with a legal concept that has not been legislated in the country as yet. This is
the concept of Geographical Indicators and this might be the best and most useful among the
current IPR models for protecting community intellectual property.
Article 22 Se. 3 of the WTO TRIPS provides that member countries shall provide the legal means
for interested parties to prevent the use of any means in the designation or presentation of a good
that indicates or suggests that the good in question originates in a geographical area other than the
true place of origin, in a manner which misleads the public as to the geographical origin of the
good. Member countries should also provide for means to prevent the use which constitutes an act
of unfair competition within the meaning of Article 10 bis of the Paris Convention.
Notwithstanding the absence of legislation that would protect geographical indicators at this time, a
mark which has become distinctive in relation to the goods or services in Philippine commerce can
qualify for registration as a trademark. To prove the mark has become distinctive, an applicant for
trademark registration could use as prima facie evidence proof of substantially exclusive and
75
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
continuous use thereof by the applicant for 5 years before the date on which the claim of
distinctiveness is made.4 Possible examples might be Bonoan Bangus or Dipolog Sardines. The
exclusivity here could be taken to mean exclusive to a community as self-ascribed.
E. The Plant Variety Protection Act (RA 9168)
A Certificate of Plant Variety Protection may be granted to applicants for plant varieties that are
new, distinct, uniform and stable. A certificate provides protection for the intellectual property
even of a group5 for a period of 25 years for trees and vines and 20 years for all other plants.
As a means of protection of the collective right to the development over generations of a variety,
the requirement of novelty would have to be overcome. An exception to this requirement is if a
variety has been sold, offered for sale or disposed of to others for a period of five (5) years before
the approval of the law. However, those varieties would need to be registered within one year from
the passage of the law (June 7, 2002).
A relevant provision for intellectual property rights protection of cultivars of indigenous peoples is
the right to oppose the application for a Certificate of Plant Variety Protection on the grounds that
it is not registrable, say in the absence of any of the required circumstances or because the
community is the breeder and has the right to register the variety for itself. However, to enforce
this right, monitoring of the Intellectual Property Office would have to be consistent.
While other groups have warned that the Plant Variety Protection Act will privatize the seed
industry even further and prevent farmers from saving seeds for replanting, there is a clause that
prevents this from happening. The protection granted under the certificate shall also not cover the
traditional rights of farmers to save, use, exchange, share or sell their farm produce of a variety
protected under this Act, except when a sale is for the purpose of reproduction under a commercial
marketing agreement. As such, once a farmer saves premium seeds from his field and
commercializes it, only then would seed saving constitute a violation of the protection afforded to
the certificate holder.
4
Rule 101, Rules and Regulations on Trade Marks, Service Names, Trade Names, and Marked or Stamped Containers.
5
Section 18, Plant Variety Protection Act
76
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
F. Specific Agreements (Bilateral or Multilateral)
Agreements between communities and the “buyers” or “users” of the knowledge can come in a
number of forms. A Materials Transfer Agreement involves the purchase by a private entity of the
potential value of the commodity and would include a lump sum as well as any royalties that may
result from the commercialization of the material. However, like geographic indicators, the value
that a private entity pays depends on the real and relatively immediate commercial potential.
Other agreements include using the community’s own labor to harvest the material. This has very
definite potential for exploitation since the relationship it fosters is dependence on the sole buyer.
Communities without access to markets and other buyers could easily be made to agree to
inequitable terms because of this dependence.
Bioprospecting agreements are where a community or country provides plant, animal or microbial
samples and a pharmaceutical company pays US$1.3 million at roughly $130 per sample. Once a
commercial product is derived from any of the samples, Costa Rica would then be entitled to
royalties. Such agreements are also fraught with including the difficulty in legal enforcement of the
rights to royalties and the presence of common varieties in other countries in Central and South
America.
II. International Agreements and Other
National Laws
Philippine IPR as currently practiced is based on and governed by international conventions
administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). However, many other laws
cover the overriding state policy to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and ensure their
economic, social and cultural well-being.
Provisions of the IPRA, for example, refer to indigenous knowledge as follows:
SEC. 32. Community Intellectual Rights. ICCs/IPs have the right to practice and revitalize their
own cultural traditions and customs. The State shall preserve, protect and develop the past, present
and future manifestations of their cultures as well as the right to the restitution of cultural,
intellectual, religious, and spiritual property taken without their free and prior informed consent or
in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.
77
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
SEC. 34. Right to Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices and to Develop own Sciences and
Technologies. - ICCs/IPs are entitled to the recognition of the full ownership and control and
protection of their cultural and intellectual rights. They shall have the right to special measures to
control, develop and protect their sciences, technologies and cultural manifestations, including
human and other genetic resources, seeds, including derivatives of these resources, traditional
medicines and health practices. vital medicinal plants, animals and minerals, indigenous knowledge
systems and practices, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literature,
designs, and visual and performing arts.
Sec. 35. Access to Biological and, Genetic Resources. - Access to biological and genetics resources
and. to indigenous knowledge related to the conservation, utilization and enhancement of these
resources, shall be allowed within ancestral lands and domains of the ICCs/IPs only with a free and
prior informed consent of such communities, obtained in accordance with customary laws of the
concerned community.
SEC. 36. Sustainable Agro-Technical Development. - The State shall recognize the right of
ICCs/IPs to a sustainable agro-technological development and shall formulate and implement
programs of action for its effective implementation. The State shall likewise promote the
biogenetic and resource management systems among the ICCs/IPs and shall encourage
cooperation among government agencies to ensure the successful sustainable development of
ICCs/IPs.
One of the problems of these provisions is that they easily lend themselves to the label of being
platitudes. It would be difficult to use the above provisions in a specific conflict where a private
entity is claiming a patent on a commercial product borne out of indigenous knowledge or
germplasm that resulted in innovations of communities over generations.
Perhaps the strongest of these provisions is the direct requirement of free and prior informed
consent under Sec. 36 which is also buttressed by the Philippine Government’s obligations under
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The CBD vests sovereignty over natural resources and the right to grant access to genetic resources
to national governments. The knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local
communities are considered key to the conservation, and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Governments are required to respect, preserve and maintain these elements [Art 8(j)], to protect
customary use of bio-resources [Art 10(d)], to act according to national law to develop and use
traditional and indigenous technologies [Art 18(4)], and to adopt economically and socially sound
measures that act as incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of components of
biological diversity [Art 11].
78
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
On the other hand, the Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV) provides a model law
for plant breeder’s rights and recognizes rights over plant varieties that are 'improved' modifications
of farmers' germplasms. UPOV 1991 allowed for both breeders' rights and patents for plant
varieties.
Another limitation of these provisions relate to what government has committed upon the entry
into force of the GATT. The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement under
the World Trade Organisation (WTO), allows for patents over life forms and requires that plant
varieties be protected by patents or a sui generis system. The Plant Variety Protection Act is the
country’s compliance with this obligation.
It would be noted that the membership in the CBD and the WTO are the same countries except
for the US’s non-membership in the CBD. While the Philippines is obligated under these
international agreements, interpretation and enforcement are matters in which the government’s
position in international negotiations and policy discussions remain relevant. Membership in the
WTO curtails the total freedom of the Philippine government in what it accords recognition and
protection to but there is a wide range of acts that can be undertaken by Philippine negotiations
aware of indigenous knowledge issues to still protect national sovereignty within these terms.
Other options for deriving benefits out of indigenous knowledge have to do with other specific
legislation. For instance, the Seed Industry Development Act (RA 8307) creates the National Seed
Industry Council to replace the existing Philippine Seed Board. One of the council’s functions is to
provide legal assistance to protect the intellectual property rights of seed producers.
The Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act or TAMA (RA 8423) defines intellectual property
rights in terms of indigenous communities but fails to use the term in the law.6 However, the law
mandates that a nationwide campaign be undertaken by The Philippine Institute of Traditional and
Alternative Health Care (PITACH) to boost support for the objectives of the act, one of which is
“to formulate policies for the protection of indigenous and natural health resources and technology
from unwarranted exploitation, for approval and adoption by the appropriate government
agencies.” The Institute is also mandated to “formulate and implement a research program on the
indigenous Philippine traditional health care practices performed by "traditional healers" using
scientific research methodologies.” A Traditional and Alternative Health Care Development Fund
is also constituted in the law for the use of the Institute and may conceivably be used to further the
relevant provisions that protect indigenous knowledge of traditional health practices, especially
those that may come into commercial use.
(i) "Intellectual property rights" - is the legal basis by which the indigenous communities exercise their rights to have
access to, protect, control over their cultural knowledge and product, including but not limited to, traditional medicines,
and includes the right to receive compensation for it.
6
79
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
It must be remembered, though, that the mandates of the Institute are basically access to health
care, focusing on traditional and alternative. As such, local communities need to take care that the
Institute prioritizes benefit-sharing and does not undermine community rights when it undertakes
its role s documentor of traditional health practices. In such an effort, the community may also
make use of the CBD and IPRA’s requirements of free and prior informed consent as well as
passport information on any of the gathered data.
Another relevant piece of recent legislation is the National Museum Law (RA 8492). Relevant to its
mandate of conducting basic and systematic research programs combining integrated laboratory
and field work in anthropology and archaeology, geology and paleontology, botany, and zoology7,
the museum will be at the forefront of plant collections and could well be the main public
repository for plant varieties. The Museum is mandated, inter alia, to
conduct researches, archaeological and scientific, on Philippine flora and fauna; collect, preserve,
identify and exhibit to the public systematically all types of plants and animals found in the
Philippines, prepare for publication manuscripts and scientific papers on them and maintain a
reference collection on such subjects, and
carry out researches among different people of the Philippines to define the ethnography of each
group, to establish the ethnology and to document for posterity and exhibit to the public their
traditional and existing cultures, practices and artistic forms expressive of their culture;
In the performance of its mandate, the Museum needs to be reminded through constant interaction
and monitoring by groups that advocate for the protection of indigenous knowledge.
III. Variations of Intellectual Property Rights
and Benefit Sharing Mechanisms
Aside from Plant Variety Certificates, other instruments to protect indigenous knowledge or ensure
benefit sharing over community-developed germplasm or processes can be designed.
Inventor’s Certificates. An Inventors' Certificate is a system of recording the attribution of an
invention that does not grant the same intellectual property rights as patents. A government
enacting legislation on such certificates can decide on the means of recognition, on whether
monetary comepensation will be required, on being non-exclusive, the period of protection and any
7
Section 6 and 7, National Museum Law, RA 8492
80
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
other contractual provisions or certificate conditions that protect indigenous knowledge and
apportion rights thereto equitably. This is an option that unlike current IPR regimes, does not
imply exclusive monopoly control over inventions and can discard financial compensation
altogether in favor of non-monetary awards and non-exclusive licensing arrangements.
Conservation Compensation (the community as gene bank) Communities should also aim to be
paid a conservation compensation. The potential value of germplasm that is conserved in situ does
not only relate to the actual use thereof to enrich or stabilize staple crops monocultured over
generations but also savings on what it would have cost to conserve the variety ex situ or in gene
banks and cell libraries.
The Plant Variety Protection Act in fact encourages inventories of locally bred varieties among
farming communities and organizations.8 A Gene Trust Fund was likewise created by the same law
for the benefit of bona fide organizations or institutions managing and operating an accredited gene
bank. . Communities may try to gain accreditation under the law as a community gene bank. It
was not stated whether such gene bank needs to be ex situ. However, there is a strong argument in
favor of in situ conservation and the recognition of farm-based gene banks
According to a CSOPP report,
“A fundamental tenet for the involvement of indigenous communities in germplasm
conservation is that full samples are stored securely within the communities themselves, i.e., insitu conservation. This is not merely a moral principle but also a scientific necessity if the
integrity of samples is to be preserved. Moreover, many species resist gene bank storage and can
only be protected in field gene banks.”
New Deposit Rules. Both the Traditional aned Alternative Medicie Act and the National Museum
Law mandate the created entities to document and even collect specimens. In such collections and
documentations, or when collections are deposited in gene banks or cell libraries, a community
which developed the cultivare may ask that information be included as to the origins of the
germplasm. The data about the origin of a germplasm, names of individuals or communities
contributing material or source material, referred to as passport information, may be deposited in a
gene bank along with the material deposit itself or marked in the documentation by the National
Museum or the PITAHC. Future legislation may require such inclusion and penalize the nondisclosure thereof.
8
Section 72 of the Plant Variety Protection Act states that farming communities and bona fide
farmers' organizations are encouraged to build an inventory of locally-bred varieties as an option to
protect these resources from misappropriation and unfair monopolization.
81
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Property Registration of Ancestral Domain. It may be possible to argue that germplasm developed
over generations is included in the ancestral domain of a community.9 Having been collected from
a community and therefore an integral part thereof, it could be considered part of the intellectual
integrity of indigenous peoples protected under IPRA. As such, the material or any part thereof
should not be subject to patent claims by others. It might be possible to enumerate these
germplasms an sufficiently describe them as an adjunct to the registration of ancestral domain titles
if only to keep a public record of their ownership while advocacy for more appropriate recognition
is undertaken.
It is also important to emphasize that Sec. 5 of the IPRA is not meant to describe a homogenous
system of customary ownership across the many and varied indigenous cultural communities across
the land. The law should be interpreted to merely describe the features of indigenous ownership as
may be recognized by each ethnolinguistic group. According to Gutierrez, each indigenous culture
will manifest their respective definitions of their forms of ownership distinct from other indigenous
groups, at their own pace and at their own time, in line with the principle of self-determination.10
As such, the Property Registry offices, whether for real property, for intellectual property (IPO) or
plant varieties (National Plant Variety Protection Registrar) are well advised to take this flexibility
into consideration and consider their roles as interim record keepers of varied and evolving
property rights.
Defense of Farmers Rights. "Farmers' rights" are a bundle of rights covering all aspects of plant
genetic resources. The acronym GIFTS has been used to denote these rights which refer to
Germplasm, Information, Funds, Technologies, and Systems. Civil Society Organizations have
long been lobbying to protect these rights which are necessary to make any raw material a usable
resource. Farmers’ rights would include the setting up of a system to compensate to reward
meritorious work that encourages conservation and use primarily in developing countries.
The IPRA is very clear in SEC. 4. that Ancestral lands/domains shall include such concepts of territories which cover
not only the physical environment but the total environment including the spiritual and cultural bonds to the areas which
the ICCs/lPs possess, occupy and use and to which they have claims of ownership. One such cultural bond is the
germplasm conserved by generations belonging to the community.
9
10
Gutierrez, Ronaldo R., IPRA and the Regalian Doctrine, Ateneo Law Journal, v. 46 No.. 4 p.833
82
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Intellectual Integrity Framework. The common objective shared by most indigenous communities
is to nurture and protect indigenous knowledge. A system that ensures the intellectual integrity of
their ongoing innovations rather than obtain intellectual property and commodify their knowledge
may be more palatable to some communities. Combinations of initiatives that could collectively be
termed the "intellectual integrity framework" may serve to keep the ideals in mind in the process of
gaining benefits from the intellectual property rights regime.
IPR Ombudspersons. A possibility for an institutional arrangement that should be pursued by any
advocate for community intellectual property rights is the creation of an IPR Ombudsperson
whose task it will be to monitor within the Intellectual Property Office if any patents, copyrights or
trademarks are being registered that would cause an injustice to a community which claims it as
their intellectual property. It should be able to hear complaints from indigenous peoples about
such acts and oppose the registration of what is essentially intellectual property of the community
complaining. The Ombudsperson should also have the authority to require the review of specific
patents or patent applications.
In the absence of such an ombudsperson, it might be helpful to lobby the NCIP to assign
personnel to do the monitoring of the IPO periodically to watch out for possible violations of
indigenous peoples intellectual property rights.
IPR Expenses. The fee structure for intellectual property rights should bear the cost of an IPR
Ombudsperson as well as legal support for communities whose intellectual property rights are
being threatened with registration by others.
Conclusion
The foregoing are a list of currently available options and a few policy suggestions for advocacy
towards protection of indigenous knowledge, both in the system of intellectual property rights and
other mechanisms. Clearly, advocacy for the specific protection of community rights need to be
undertaken both in the national and international levels.
83
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
The following criteria developed by Downes and Laird11 may be useful in assessing the benefits of
each option:
™ The extent to which the mechanism could enhance the market
™ The extent to which the mechanism could be structured to increase the flow of benefits to
the community level
™ Potential for the mechanism to create/maintain sustainable use
™ Proportion between transaction costs and magnitude of benefits
™ The extent through which the mechanism could be developed through private or voluntary
initiatives and the degree to which changes to national or international law or policy may be
necessary at some point to create a supportive framework
™ The mechanism’s relative effectiveness compared to other tools such as bio-prospecting
contracts; and
™ The extent to which the mechanism can be employed as a practical matter at the
community level in developing countries.
Additionally, it would also be useful to consider the following circumstances:
™ Stability and representativeness of community leadership and the evolving process of
decision-making
™ Process and assistance in the documentation of the indigenous knowledge
™ Presence of a trusted legal counsel
11
Downes, David R. and Sarah A. Laird, Innovative Mechanisms for Sharing of Biodiversity and Related Knowledge: Case Studies on
Geographical Indicators and Trademarks. Prepared for UNCTAD Biotrade Initiative, 1999.
84
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Appendix B: Application for Copyright
APPLICATION FOR COPYRIGHT
(Please Read Instructions Carefully Before Filling Blanks)
__ (Published)
__ (Unpublished)
The Director, The National Library, Manila
_________________
FILING DATE
PAPER NO. __________
Date ______________________
SIR: I have the honor to apply for the copyright registration of the (a) Unpublished (b) Published work
named herein of which (c) 2 complete copies are herewith deposited compliance with the provisions of
REPUBLIC ACT 8293. The amount of P100.00 for the registration fee and ten pesos worth of documentary
stamp to be affixed to the certificate are also enclosed. The data required by the rules and regulations of that
office are the following:
Name and address of copyright
owner:
(Claimants full legal name)
Name of author:
Country of which the author is a
citizen:
(Country)
If alien author, state Alien Certificate No. and where domiciled in the
Philippines:
Title of the
Work:
(Title as it appears on the front part of the title page of the work followed by the edition number, if any)
Class to which the work
belongs:
If copyright is claimed upon a new matter in a reissued work, state new matter
specifically:
(Additional chapters by numbers followed by inclusive pages in parenthesis; other more or less short but
materials alterations)
(d) Completed (e) Printed or Reproduced in copies on
day of
,
the
(Date when the work or its printing was completed)
at
by
(Municipality, Province)
(Person or Establishment)
First published or sold to the public in the Philippines
day of
,
on the
Send certificate of registration to:
(Name and Address)
Unit price if reproduced in copies for sale: P
Very Respectfully,
____________________________
(Signature of Applicant)
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Deposit received
on
Application received
on
Affidavit received
on
Fee
P
received
Date of
Registration
Certificate issued
on
Signed
by
Certificate mailed by
O.R.
Certificate received
by
XXc
*
**
Of the lines marked (a) to (e) use the ones which apply and cross out the lines not used
The word author embraces a translator, a composer, painter, sculptor or other artists, or a photographer or
a producer of a cinematographic film or publisher or a periodical, or an editor of work without known
authors
+ In case of periodicals, the title includes the volume and number as well as the date of each issue separately
registered e.g. Philippine Magazine Vol. XXV No. 2, July 1933
++ See class designations at the bottom of the reverse or back side hereof. A representative may sign the
application under the name of the claimant Accomplish this form in duplicate
TYPEWRITTEN ONLY
(THIS FORM IS NOR FOR SALE AND MAYBE REPRODUCED)
86
Asia-Pacific Database on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
by Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)
Appendix C: Waiver Form
I, _____________________________________, of legal age, single, with postal address at
_____________________________________, after being duly sworn in accordance with law hereby depose
and say:
and –
I, _____________________, of legal age, married, with postal address at ____________________,
after being duly sworn in accordance with law hereby depose and say:
That we, the creators/authors of the work entitled _________________________, subject of the application
for copyright filed for and on behalf of _______________;
That we are waiving our rights as creators/authors of said work in favor of ____________ and hereby expressly
agree that the copyright registration certificate therefore be issued in favor of ________________________.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set our signatures on this ____ day of _______ 2005, in
_______________________.
CONFORME:
___________________________
Affiant Affiant
87