happening right now in Montreal, Canada, where the world leaders have gathered to establish measures to protect biological biodiversity, improve conservation efforts, and ensure ethical benefits sharing from the use of genetic resources. Some countries are worried that DSI has become a loophole for companies to avoid sharing profits deriving from their biodiversity and are pushing for more strict rules to compensate them for discoveries using DNA sequences.
“The role of the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre is to regulate research and to facilitate ethical access to traditional knowledge and genetic resources,” says Charlie. “We have a regulatory framework to ensure that we can work with companies under mutually agreed terms. These agreements need to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources for the companies, Sarawak, and indigenous peoples and local communities.