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The Convention on Biodiversity (1992) instituted property rights on nature in order to protect it. The agreement promoted by the WTO about Intellectual Property (1994) called for the enforcement of patents on genetic components in plants and animals. Such components are isolated in the ex-colonising countries on the basis of samples, while the daily use of these plants and animals in the ex-colonized countries has no legal status. The new rights in intellectual property generate conflicts and negotiations between corporations and indigenous communities. The proposal for instituting global genetic Commons, under the stewardship of local communities, resists against the privatization of nature, but the first step would consist in learning to see ourselves as parts of nature, rather than as its masters.