Fiji will be drafting a legislation aimed at protecting the intellectual property or community owned traditional knowledge of the indigenous people.

This comes after Cabinet approved the ratification of UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Minister Filipe Bole said that for Fiji the Convention is the first and only instrument that addresses specifically the cultural heritage which has been long neglected.

He said these have been at risk from physical threats, social and economic threats and psychological threats.

Bole adds that current initiatives being undertaken envisages setting up a National inventory on Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Culture, identifying traditional elders and custodians responsible for knowledge transmission in existence.

Not only this, Bole said cultural revitalisation community workshops has also been conducted in villages in Fiji and Rotuma aimed at upholding transmission of knowledge and skills from the aged custodians to the younger generation.