KUCHING: Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has encouraged the Dayak community to harness the potential of their Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands for carbon storage and trading.
With vast areas of NCR lands as their assets, he said ‘bejalai’ (journey) into emerging fields in the new economy will provide economic sustainability and elevate the livelihood of rural communities.
“The Dayak community is encouraged to harness the potential of their NCR land by carrying out research into fast-growing trees and ways to steward carbon on NCR territories to be in line with international protocol and requisites set by carbon trading entities.
“With infrastructure readiness, the state government will issue licences enabling carbon trading originating from NCR lands,” he said.
He made these remarks during the official opening of the Dayak Cultural Foundation (DCF) and Dayak Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) headquarters at Jalan Ong Tiang Swee on Saturday (Aug 19).
Drawing on the historical background of the Dayak community’s tradition of shifting agriculture, Abang Johari said their cultural practice of ‘bejalai’ symbolises an inherent motivation to explore new horizons beyond their customary boundaries.
“The Dayak are hardworking people, they practiced the ‘bejalai’ culture where they go beyond their territory to explore new things. It is a very important characteristic of the Dayak community.
“In these modern times, you must embrace new technology and chart into new areas. The Dayak business community have to go beyond the traditional way of doing business and they have to transform our friends in rural areas towards a new economy,” he said.
Abang Johari pointed out that the new economy is based on environmental sustainability and Sarawak has advantages in this considering its abundance of natural resources.
He said the rural community can no longer rely on projects like roads and drainage that depend on government allocations as it is not sustainable.
“What happens when all the roads are completed? There must be activities that can be sustainable.
“If initiatives are based on natural resources, there is the capacity to enhance the value and generate sustainable income streams for the people. This is because we have the resources,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the DCF has been exploring the potential of the new economy to further help improve the livelihood of the Dayak communities.
Aligned with the state government’s carbon trading initiatives, he said the DCF had noted that the Dayak community have vast areas of underutilised and undeveloped forested NCR lands.
“With the vast NCR areas, DCF intends to advocate for these underutilised and underdeveloped NCR lands to explore the potential of participation in carbon trading.
“After much discussion and deliberation with experts in the field, the DCF believes that it is very promising and that there is big potential for these underutilised or undeveloped NCR lands to participate in carbon trading as a source of income for NCR landowners,” he said.
