The plan was announced at a two-day workshop held in Delhi,
India, recently by the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC). Participants at the workshop have begun
drawing up a technical framework for classifying the region's
traditional knowledge and linking it to the international patent
The aim is to create a composite digital library comprising
individual Traditional Knowledge Digital Libraries (TKDL) from
each country in South Asia. Accessible using the internet, the
library will contain information on traditional medicine,
foodstuffs, architecture and culture. SAARC will fund the
infrastructure required, and individual nations will fund the
costs of training and work. The meeting's delegates said South
Asian nations could use the digital library to fight contentious
patent claims by proving the prior existence of knowledge, as
well as promoting research on novel drugs, enhancing the
region's share of the global herbal medicine market and helping
set the international agenda on intellect