A team from DBNA attended a seminar on the development and implementation of a national access and benefit sharing framework for traditional knowledge and genetic resources organised by Sarawak Biodiversity Centre at Jalan Puncak Borneo. It is important that the indigenous communities benefit from any initiative to exploit their traditional knowledge and genetic resources for commercial purposes. Many of the traditional knowledge and herbs and plants of the Bidayuh community are being documented by SBC, and many of these have potentials in the development of pharmaceutical and health care products. It is therefore important that the community documents its traditional knowledge, not only to preserve them for future generations, but also to protect them from being exploited by outsiders and businesses without benefiting the community. Paul Akiu who led the team at the seminar said DBNA would work with SBC and other authorities to document and protect traditional knowledge and other cultural resources of the community.

A cordial discussion on Bidayuh intellectual properties was held with a group of professors from University Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) today at a local hotel in Kuching City. DBNA was represented by Datu Ik Pahon Joyik, Chali Ungang and Jubilant Austinway. UIAM wanted to understand how DBNA play its role to preserve and document Bidayuh culture, heritage and traditional knowledge with regards to our oral tradition, material cultures and languages. Also present were two officers from the ICT Unit of the Chief Minister’s Department, Corelineson Nosin and Steward Sayong.