Site: Sabah, Malaysia:
Type of Partnership: community development
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Description: The Batu Puteh community has developed a creative solution to the loss of access to traditional resources resulting from the creation of Sabah's Supu Forest Reserve and Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. Since 2000, the NGO they created - MESCOT - has operated a series of successful ecotourism ventures including a home-stay program, boat and guide service, and handicraft production scheme. Their efforts have also restored over 50 hectares of forest in important freshwater swamps.

Since April 1997, WWF Malaysia has been working in collaboration with the state government, to help the local community develop sustainable community based tourism in the Lower Kinabatangan.

A number of development and business plans have been prepared and a particularly successful component, the Miso Walai Homestay programme, was established in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism Development, Environment, Science & Technology. Miso Walai means 'together as one house' in the language of the Orang Sungai (the indigenous people of this region). Miso Walai combines plans for transport services, a boat service, handicraft cottage industries and recreational activities to provide a tourism core business.

Sources: Equator Initiative and WWF