FOR decades, local communities in Sabah especially in the rural areas are still heavily dependent on government handouts for their basic needs.

Despite having rich biodiversity and cultural legacy (such as practices, customs, knowledge and skills), they fail to make use of these golden opportunities to transform our natural resources into something that will benefit them in a long run.

We cannot hold much blame to them for being in such state. One of the main reasons leading to this issue is a widespread poverty.

As a result, they struggle to come out from the cycle of economic hardship.