KUCHING: LitSara has Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) to thank for in introducing and promoting its products to the public here.
It was after collaborating with SBC that its products, that use extracts from a tree known as Litseacubeba to produce essential oils, freshener and soap.
During the event of signing the Benefit Sharing Agreement (BSA) at SBC here yesterday, SBC Council chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Wilson Baya Dandot said, he believed under the LitSara Project, Sarawak could go many steps further in producing products that use natural resources.
“As for now we have successfully produced soap, essential oils, and shampoo by using extracts from a tree known as Litseacubeba, and I believe that we could go further than this with placing five more products to be added such as perfume,” he said.
According to a spokesperson involved in producing the product, she said they had found the tree and plant since 2016 before they could really start their project in producing items such as essential oil, soap and shampoo.
“It takes time for us to really breakdown all these plants for us to come up with the products, and we also add small amount of other items such as coconut oil to make it smell fresher,” she said.
“We are actively involved in booths to sell the products that we have for us to reach to community on the plant that we use and also to remind them that there are still natural resources that are useful to be used.”
LitSara products are also sold at the SBC there for visitors and all the collected profits from the products will be allocated to the indigenous community who are involved in the production of LitSara products.
LitSara is also a project that involves the indigenous communities such as Kelabit, LunBawang and Bidayuh.
The aim is to ensure that indigenous communities’ traditional knowledge is valued by those who use it to develop a range of products and that the benefits are shared equitably.
This is to ensure that the indigenous communities play a pivotal role in adding value to their traditional knowledge and local biodiversity and are also duly acknowledged through recognition and equitable sharing of benefits arising from product commercialisation.
LitSara is a project with Sarawak Biodiversity that utilises the acquisition of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) from participating communities, who are actively involved in implementing Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).
