Taking on Big Timber
Evidence shows that in August 2021, Samling began building a logging road on Long Pakan land and removing trees to prepare for its logging operations, despite the community at large staunchly opposing the operation. Community members were quick to file a report with the police. When that went nowhere, they set up a blockade in response to the threat. Villagers say the company failed to obtain free, prior, and informed consent from the headman and many community members who oppose the logging. Rather, villagers say, the company relied on a handful of young people, some of whom are presumably under its employ or have been promised employment, to claim that consent had indeed been obtained.
In a statement, village headman Pada Jutang said, “We are not happy when the company continues to work because the forest will vanish, forest products are difficult to find … and the polluted water and soil erosion cause the fish to die.”
The residents of Long Pakan, members of the Penan ethnic group, are speaking from experience. Many Penan communities have held on to much of their forests through decades of resistance, while watching others downriver trade away their land for short-term gain, or have it swept out from under them when licenses for logging and oil palm plantations have been doled out by the government and treated like free passes.
The Baram River basin, where Long Pakan is located, contains the largest area of unprotected primary forest left in Sarawak state, which stretches along Borneo’s northwestern coast. The forest there is home to dozens of threatened species such as the pangolin, gibbon, binturong, sun bear, and clouded leopard, as well as six different species of hornbill.
The region is subject to a patchwork of timber concessions, where so-called sustainable logging is taking place. Some of the concessions have been certified by the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which is in turn certified by the international Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). MTCS says its program — which requires an internal audit as well as surveillance as part of the certification process — considers environmental, social, and economic impacts of timber operations. It also requires the consent of Indigenous stakeholders. But locals say that timber that doesn’t meet these criteria is frequently rubber-stamped as clean and green, labeling which makes it ideal for sale in the United States and Europe. In reality, operations certified by these programs have a host of issues, including failure to consult communities or to adequately obtain consent.
Communities on the ground have been pointing out these deficiencies with increased rigor and reach in recent years. Unfortunately, their campaigns have not gone unpunished. In October 2020, another Baram community, the Kenyah community of Long Moh, similarly discovered Samling logging outside of approved areas as part of a MTCS-certified operation. (Samling’s Long Pakan operation, however, isn’t certified by MTCS.) The community responded with nonviolent resistance. “We staged a peaceful protest, putting up banners along the entrance to their campsite,” community member William Tingang said at the time. “We want Samling to know that we are utterly upset with their action.”
Samling continued to deny the claims and sent the community an intimidating letter saying they had done nothing wrong. Long Moh contacted local advocacy group SAVE Rivers looking for help to hold Samling accountable. SAVE Rivers has actively supported Indigenous communities fighting for land rights and forest protection for years.
Originally published at https://www.earthisland.org.
