The official signing of the Benefit Sharing Agreement between Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) and five indigenous communities presents new avenues for wealth generation through alternative socio-economic activities for the participating indigenous communities. In addition, this aligns with Sarawak Government’s vision to move beyond traditional industries and explore alternative economic growth resource through science that fully taps into Sarawak’s rich biological landscape.
The BSA presents three-fold benefits to the participating indigenous communities - recognition and respect to the communities’ rights to its biological resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK); ensures fair and equitable sharing of monetary and non-monetary benefits arising from the utilization of biological resources and associated TK; as well as promote the importance of biodiversity conservation.