A local and indigenous community cluster of nearly two thousand people from six kampungs around Sungai Telaga and its tributaries are currently attempting to retain their right to self-determination to continue practicing their traditional and cultural way of life within the remaining mangrove areas in the North-Eastern District of Sabah (Pitas). An area of 2,300 acres of pristine mangrove forest mangrove areas in Pitas have been destroyed from 2013 to make way for a prawn farm. There was no proper consultation with the affected communities; the environmental impact assessment process was flawed; promises of jobs and water have not materialized; local communities who depend on the mangroves for their source of protein and livelihood are being harassed and not allowed access to their native lands; native customary foraging areas are being encroached; and loss of habitat for the endemic proboscis monkey is not being addressed appropriately. The Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA), BC Initiative (BCI) and the Jawatankuasa Badan Bertindak Enam Kampung (JBB6) have been working together since early 2013 to address this situation and have managed to halt encroachment into native customary lands in Kampung Sungai Eloi, Kampung Datong and Kampung Boluuh. As land is increasingly sought after by external actors, communities are forced to engage with these players. However, these engagements are often unfavourable to these communities as there is a severe imbalance of power, information and capacity to protect their rights and interest. Consequentially, the communities have lost and are still losing their rights on customary lands and access to traditional areas of natural resources thus affecting their livelihoods. These losses are adding to their burden as they are already in the hard-core poverty bracket and have no means of adaptation. The PSBP is a crucial process that is needed by these affected communities. This project aims to enable communities to better articulate their ways of life and local plans to government and the private sector as well as to support constructive multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration around key issues of mutual importance. The PSBP?s main goal is to raise awareness and to build capacity on customary sustainable uses of biodiversity; the protection of traditional knowledge; related legal frameworks with emphasis on access and benefit sharing therefore enabling these local indigenous communities to better articulate their needs and to work in a proactive manner with external stakeholders.