Extracted from The Borneo post

Date: 21 November 2001

GATHERING KNOWLEDGE … Yap receives copies of the workshop materials from SBC chief operating officer Eileen Yen Ee Lee while Council for Customs and Tradition, Sarawak president Datuk Tra Zender looks on.

Register of Traditional Knowledge set up for common platform

KUCHING: Communities and agencies in the State holding certain biodiversity data now have a common platform to come together and share the information.

Setting up of the "Sarawak Biodiversity Register of Traditional Knowledge" is also to recognise the knowledge, innovations and practices of the indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles. Biodiversity has been defined to include the variety of living things such as plants, animals and micro-organism.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office Alfred Yap yesterday said the register is to allow the traditional communities to better document and protect their ethnobiology-related knowledge, innovation and practices.

He said it would ultimately enable all concerned to look at appropriating equitable benefits back to the communities.

"This is in line with the State government's recognition that we need adequate information about the distribution and status of our biological resources as well as the knowledge of the traditional use of these resources," Yap said.

He was speaking at the opening of the "Traditional Knowledge Documentation" Workshop organised by the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) in collaboration with International Plant Genetic Resources Institute and Council for Customs and Tradition, Sarawak.

In exploring potential uses, Yap said the documentation of traditional knowledge would lead to better appropriation of the benefits.

He said these benefits include participation in scientific research based on genetic resources supplied, fair and equitable sharing of research' and developments and patents.

"The other benefits of this project is that it will also help to raise awareness among members in the respective communities to appreciate the value of their traditional knowledge".

Yap also said that society' has inevitably benefited greatly from traditional knowledge.

He cited an example of most plant-derived drugs used in modern medicine which are discovered from their use in traditional societies rather than through random screening.

We can understand the importance of traditional knowledge by the fact that 80 percent of the people in under-developed countries still rely on traditional medicine for their primary health care. These medicines are based largely on species of plants".

Some 120 chemicals extracted in pure form from about 90 species used in medicines throughout the world and many of these medicines cannot be manufactured synthetically.

Sale of these plant-based drugs in the global market amounted to some US\$4.5 billion in 1980 and an estimated US$15.5 billion in 1990.

Yap said with the 36 ethnic communities in the State, it was assured that the wealth of knowledge on plants and their uses are great.