Indigenous people from the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo are fighting against plans to cut their forests, saying that while the logging has been certified as “sustainable”, they have not given their consent to the proposals, which could destroy an environment that is home to critically endangered species including gibbons, sun bears and hornbills. The thousands of Indigenous people who live in the northern Limbang and Baram districts rely on the forest for their physical and cultural wellbeing, while the Baram River is the state’s second-largest and an important life-source. “Logging will destroy our forests. It will destroy our rivers and medicines and prevent us from satisfying all of our needs in the forests on which we depend for our lives. We Penan communities reject any logging activities in our Baram territory,” Penan leader Komeok Joe said. Village leaders say they were not adequately consulted on a plan by Samling, a Malaysian timber company, to log thousands of hectares of forest. Nor, they say, did they have access to the social and environmental impact assessments conducted for the projects, even though Samling was certified under the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS). The communities worry that that certification will allow wood from the trees to be sold as “sustainable” in international markets.

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